Taking in a Thief
by AmIObsessed
Summary: When Shifty gets a new, an improved, a better helper to assist him in robberies, what happens to Lifty? After his twin kicks him out and practically disowns him, what is he supposed to do? Without stealing and his brother, he has nothing. But can a dandruff haired girl show him otherwise? LiftyxFlaky all the way.
1. A light in the darkness

"Neeheehee," Shifty bent over the table and stared at a light blue haired male across from him. He smirked when he saw him fidget and fix his glasses, this clearly wasn't what he was used to. "You do know who you're doing business with, right nerd boy?"

Sniffles wiped his sweaty hands on his lab coat and nodded nervously. He had heard that the twins had access to some high quality plutonium for a cheap price, but when he had asked to purchase it they had bumped it up so it was out of his budget. Desperate, he had asked if there was any way they'd give it to him, and they had replied with two words.

A trade.

So now he was in their dimly lit, dusty basement seated at an old poker table, waiting for Shifty to give the word. He didn't know how trading went, but he was afraid that they would take what he had and give him an imitation of the real thing.

Lifty sat down on a crate and asked in a bored tone, "And what did you bring to trade off?"

"O-oh! Y-yes," Sniffles stammered and reached into his deep pocket to search around before pulling out something and setting it on the table. "This," he took out a controller and flipped a switch on the side to on, "is M.A.C." The thing which was originally in a box shape shuddered, parts shifting around and locking into place, and raised up so it was standing vertically, eyes an eerily solid white.

Shifty rubbed his chin and raised an eyebrow, waving his hand in front of it. "Yeah, and what does it do? What does 'M.A.C' stand for?"

"M.A.C stands for Mechanically Automated Crook," the science loving male visibly sat up straighter in the foldable chair, proud of his creation. "As it implies in his name, he was programmed to know nothing but who is his master, obey their commands, and steal anything he can." His eyes took on an eviler shine, "He's virtually indestructible, not even Splendid's powers are a match to his defense mode! He's built out of the lightest but most deflective metal, so if you're ever in the middle of a getaway, he's off in a flash! He also has the strength of that surpasses any muscle builder and the ability to easily pick up anything up to three hundred times his weight! And lastly, his six bionic arms make a robbery a breeze!—"

Lifty held up his hand for him to stop, "So what you're saying, is, he's a mini robot who steals junk easily?"

Sniffles frowned at his explanation of it, "If you want to dumb it down, then yes, it's a robot thief."

"And," Shifty got up and walked around the table, seeing it from every angle, "does it work?" Even if they weren't ones for all that sciency crap, they knew that inventions usually had a few bugs in them, especially if it was Sniffle's inventions.

"Yes, of course it does!" Even if he had never really tested it out, how many problems could it have?

The oldest boy rubbed his chin again, thinking, but then he made up his mind and pointed at Lifty. "Give him the stuff."

Lifty reached behind his crate and lifted up a tightly chained jewelry box, a thick lock keeping it shut. He tossed it at Sniffles and said, "Now get out of here before that thing opens, we just finished repairing our house from last time."

It bounced in his arms dangerously before he clamped his hand down on it and sighed in relief, getting up. "If you don't choose the auto thief setting, the controls are very simple, not even _you two_ should have no problem with it." Was that an insult? "There's a gaming stick on it and you just push it forward, backwards, or side to side to move, and twist the knob to turn it around. I already wired him to obey one of your voices, and even if you are twins, he'll pick up who's who." He was already walking up the grimy steps to leave, "You just need to decide who his master is." Then he ducked out and left the premises quickly.

The two twins stood over M.A.C and looked at each other, asking who was going to control it.

"Well I'm oldest so I say I'm in charge~" Lifty was about to argue back, but then his brother told him to shut up so he could talk into the control without interruptions.

"Heh," Shifty took the control and guessed that he was supposed to speak into a little antenna sticking out of it. "Hello M.A.C. My name is Shifty, and from now on, I'm your new master. You're going to listen to everything I say."

They both took a step back for safety as the robot spoke, its voice edgy and digital sounding. "Hel-lo Shift-ty. I am M.A.C. I am read-dy to take on my first task, Shift-ty."

Shifty's smirk grew as he glanced at his brother, "Alright. For your first job, how 'bout you take Lifty's watch."

"Hey! Why me!?" He covered his watch with a hand and glared at the robot warningly. "Don't you fucking think about—" Grunting in surprise when one of its arms came out, grabbed his face with its tri-clawed hand, and pushed him back roughly, he didn't feel when it unstrapped his watch and retracted it back itself.

Impressed, Shifty held his hand out for the watch and put it in his pocket when it dropped in his hand. "Nice."

Lifty got up off the floor where he had been pushed and scowled, "What the hell Shifty!? Why did I have to be the first test subject?! And give me back my damn watch!"

"Get out."

Stopping at the words, he narrowed his eyes, "What?"

"I said get out, as in, leave," Shifty chuckled. "I don't think that I'll be needing you anymore since I have this thing, so I want you to leave. Like right now."

"But this is my house too!" What was he talking about, leave? Never come back leave? Was his brother abandoning him? "T-that's not fair!"

Tired of this conversation, Shifty shooed him away with his hand, "M.A.C, can you escort my idiot twin out of here. And make sure he doesn't step one foot back in his house." And in less than two minutes flat, Lifty was shoved out of their rundown house and sent stumbling onto the dead grass.

Scowling, he couldn't stop the feeling of being betrayed and abandoned from filling him. Shifty was the only family he had, the person he considered to be the closest to him, and to be disowned, it hurt. He sat on the grass wondering what to do now. No one really liked him, so where would he go? Well, anywhere was better than in front of where he had just been kicked out of.

xXx

Three hours later, Lifty found himself sitting on a park bench starting to worry more. The forecast for that day had called for thunderstorms and the sky overhead was dense with black clouds, thunder booming in the distance. What if he was caught in the rain? Where would he head to for cover, where could he head to?

He sighed and, since there was no one else in park at the time, hit his fist down on the bench. "Dammit Shifty, what's your problem!? Did you want me to be out here not knowing what to do?! Huh!? You fucking dick! Replacing me with a stupid piece of metal . ." Growling, he dug his nails into the wood. "Could this get any worse . ." Before he could close his mouth in hopes of not jinxing it, God parted the clouds to look down on him and say, 'Lifty, I hate you.' Then the rain poured down, soaking him to the bone.

"That's just so fucking fantastic," Lifty hugged his arms to himself in an attempt of keeping his body heat and searched for any tree that would give him some shelter from the rain. It was cold, it kept trickling down his shirt, his clothes were stuck to his body, and—it went away?

No, it didn't, he saw the rain still coming down everywhere else but the circle he was in. "What . ." Looking up, he saw the red umbrella being held over him to stop the pounding rain from hitting him. "Who . ." He turned around in his seat to see who his rescuer was.

"Hi Lifty."

* * *

**So it's kinda obvi who they are xD but yeah, my lame attempt at a cliffhanger. Yes! Another LiftyxFlaky because I'm loving those two right now :3 I hope this isn't too bad, not bad enough so you won't review anyways~**


	2. To Flaky's house!

"Hi Lifty."

Lifty couldn't help but pause, wondering what to say.

The person, or rather girl, who was holding the umbrella was none other than Flaky; who else would be so nice? So nice as to walk to where he was at screaming out curses like an idiot, bother to even worry about him being soaked, and hold out their umbrella to block the rain from hitting them but putting themselves out in it. It was too nice even, it made him edgy when he tried to figure out why she would even talk to him.

"What do you want?" He scooted away from her, trying to uncover her real motive for being so—bleh—kind. They weren't particularly close, the war veteran would always warn him to stay away from her because of what he was known as. A thief.

Flaky smiled like she would have if she had been looking at a disagreeable child who claimed to not need help. "I was just passing by on my way home from the store," she held up the plastic bags in her hands, "when I heard someone y-yelling."

The muscle under his eye twitched as he stared at her, face like stone that showed no emotion or thoughts.

An awkward silence passed before Flaky, not being very fond of the rain pouring down on her and flattening out her hair, said, "Um, these bags are actually kind of heavy, c-could you help me take them to my house?" Though she hadn't said it straight out, she was telling him that he could stay at her house, "U-unless you have somewhere to be," or unless he wanted to stay in the rain.

Leaning away from the option of staying in an alleyway and using a box as cover, he unenthusiastically got up, grabbed the umbrella from her, and went around the bench to raise it above them both. "Yeah," He took the bags from her, "Where do you live at?"

"Just a couple of blocks from here."

Well, at least he was going to be spending the night where it was dry and warm.

xXx

"And this," Flaky unlocked and opened the door to her house, "is where I live! It's a little s-small, but since it's just me, I think it's a perfect size." She ushered the green haired man inside and closed the door again, taking the umbrella to lean it against the coat rack.

Lifty felt uneasy just standing in her house like that, it felt like someone would pop out and shoot him for even bothering to come in. Despite stealing from almost every other citizen in town, the twins had never talked about robbing from the red head for some reason. Maybe because she was too helpless . . . but most likely because Flippy would come after them if he found out.

"It's . ." He took in the unlit fireplace, the chestnut coffee table, a TV set, and other things that would be found in any normal living room, "nice . ."

Flaky nodded and took the bags from him, going to the kitchen to set them on the counter and put what she had bought away. "Oh, there are t-towels in the top hallway cabinet; you can get one and dry off until I can find you some clothes."

"Okay," He did was he was told, opened the cabinet door, and used a scarlet towel to dry his hair, throwing it across his shoulder as he walked around the room. He had only talked to Flaky three, maybe four times before when she would catch them stealing and take it upon herself to give them a lecture on why it was wrong. Yeah, they never listened to her, but it still counted as talking. For all she knew, he could've been a part time rapist and she let him in her house, like she thought he wouldn't do anything to hurt her.

Now that he thought of it that way, he admitted that he wanted to do something bad just so he could prove that she shouldn't trust people as easily as she did. But he didn't have time to plot anything because she walked back out of the kitchen, having put the items away.

Flaky was mumbling half to him and half to herself, wondering what he could wear until his clothes were dry. "Mm . . I think Flippy might've left some clothes here the last time he slept over . . You two look the same size . ." She left again and returned minutes later with a box of clothes, mostly boys'.

Blushing when she heard Lifty mutter a question, asking why she had so much boy clothes, she said, "N-no it's not mine! Some of it is clothes that is l-left here from friends who sleep over—"

That gave him a clue on why she was so trusting to letting people in her house. Other guys were almost always over so she must have felt protected. Other guys in her house, he couldn't help but snicker when the thought processed into a dirty situation in his corrupted mind.

"—and the other part was supposed to be donated . ."

Oh, so that explained why the week before Flaky and Lammy had gone around knocking on everyone's doors asking if they had any old shirts or pants that they didn't wear anymore. Lammy had been the girl out of the two who had knocked on their door, and Shifty had decided to chase her away after he had stolen her lamb necklace.

"So you can p-pick anything out from there until your clothes dry . ." Flaky moved away from the box and backed away to her room. "I-I'm going to take a shower, just leave your w-wet stuff on the kitchen counter and I'll throw it in the dryer when I'm done . ." She gave an embarrassed smile and went into her room, the clicking of the lock was like a signal that meant he didn't need to hold his breath in anymore.

Lifty bent down and shifted through the worn clothes, picking out a pair of sweats that didn't have holes and a loose tank top to wear. He stripped off his drenched outfit, rolled it into a bundle shape, and set it in the kitchen, choosing to lie on the couch after he had changed, waiting until Flaky came back out.

Twenty minutes later, Flaky opened the door a crack and whispered, "Lifty? Are you still u-undressing?"

He wanted so badly to say he was, undress again, and when she asked again say he wasn't just to give her a scare when she came out and saw him in the nude. But nah, Flaky would be scarred forever if he did that. "Yeah, I'm not naked if that's what you're asking."

Flaky edged out of her room, taking a fast look to see if he was telling the truth, and smiled when she saw him relaxing. "I hope you're feeling fine, you might've caught a c-cold by being in the rain like that." She turned her back to him as she turned on the fireplace by twisting the key in the floor, the fire blazing up and warming the room.

Nodding, he glanced at her, the flames creating dancing shadows on her face, "I'm fine. And—uh—thanks or whatever. For not leaving me in the rain and crap." That was the closest he'd come to saying thank you. Ever.

She giggled softly and went into the kitchen to collect his things. It was obvious that giving thanks or receiving kindness wasn't what he was he was used to, but that would change in time. Separating his clothes, she said, "You're welcome! But would you tell me w-why you were just sitting there by yourself? W-where'd Shifty go?

Eyes changing to slits, he growled, his anger allowing what had happened spill out of him, "That fucking bastard got a new friend and he said he didn't need me anymore. He kicked me out of the house, telling me to never come back, his brother! Just because something better came along."

"Oh?" Flaky had always known that the brothers sometimes betrayed each other, but she never would've suspected that it went as far as abandoning one another.

"It isn't fair though. I lived there too, and just because he's older he thinks it's his house! That fucking ass." Lifty turned to the material of the couch and started to angrily pull at an undone thread on it. "Do you know how it feels like to be tossed out like a fucking piece of garbage?"

"I can't say I—AHH!"

Lifty shot up at the scream and prepared himself for an intruder, ready to fight them. "Flaky? What's wrong?" He edged to the kitchen and peered inside. "Flaky why'd you—" The question died on his lips as his face reddened.

Flaky was blushing too as she held up a piece of his clothing in between her fingers.

His green striped boxers.

* * *

**So in this story I'm making it where Lifty and Flaky don't really know each other, but they'll open up soon! I promise the chapters will be longer and I'm sorry if this is boring but I'm trying to pace it. Enjoy people~ xD**


	3. Two's a party, Three's a crowd

"Lifty," came Flaky's small whisper.

"Go away," Lifty muttered and pulled the blanket over his head.

"Lifty w-wake up."

"Five more minutes."

"B-but it's already late and . ."

"Bah."

Flaky crossed her arms and looked at the boy who was residing on her couch, the pillow she had given him tossed on the floor and the blanket was too short, barely reaching his ankles. It was almost midmorning, when would he be getting up? She had even pulled open the curtains to let the light fill the room in hopes that it would awaken him. What she needed to do had to affect him, enough so he wouldn't be able to nap away the morning like he was doing.

Thinking, she raised her hand up and brightened, "I got it!" She put her hands on her hips, a warning in her words, "Lifty, if you don't get up r-right now, I'll do something!"

He didn't even raise the blanket off his face, "Something, that sounds horrible. Please do it."

She puffed her cheeks at the blow off and walked around the living room, picking up any pillows she could find. Once she had completed her task, she stood by his feet and raised a pillow. "Lifty get up." She threw one at where he face should've been, but it just bounced off harmlessly.

Lifty shifted under the blanket and laughed, "You think that's gonna do anything? No."

"Get up." Another throw.

"No."

"Up." Third pillow.

"No thanks."

"Move it." Last pillow.

"Ha, no."

Racking her mind for what to do next, Flaky thought of something that was bound to wake him up even if he didn't want to. She climbed on the armrest and stood straight up, growing worried about what would happen if she lost her balance and fell backwards. Gulping at the thought, she set her legs apart and kept her arms out, beginning to quiver. "A-alright Lifty, you asked for this. Get u-up!" She pushed herself forward, her entire bodyweight hitting him.

"Uff!" Lifty chocked on the air he had been breathing in and sat up, causing the red head to tumble to the ground, rubbing his chest. "What the fuck Flaky!? What was that all about?!"

Flaky got back on her feet, smiling shyly, her bangs covering half of her face as she looked at his annoyed expression. "Y-you weren't getting up . . and I w-warned you . . But it made you get up so it worked!"

Lifty snorted, showing that he didn't think it worked as well as she thought it did. "Fine, since you already ruined the chance of me going back to sleep, what the hell. I'll get up." He stood up, prodding the forming bruise on his arm where he elbow had hit him.

Adding to the minor pain, the incoming sunlight was annoying in his opinion, so after he regained some control of his body, he closed the shades. "Don't open these anymore."

"Oh . . okay the sun was . . getting me m-mad too . ." Flaky mumbled before remembering why she had woken him up in the first place. "S-so, Lifty," she examined the ends of her hair, seeming to find it interesting at the moment, "you should know that you're welcomed to stay here until . . ?" They shared a short pause of awkwardness, because, they both knew what the real question was.

Until what? Until Shifty grew tired of his new toy and decided to take him back? Fat chance that would happen. Until Flaky couldn't deal with him as her burden and make him leave so her life stayed normal but his took a turn for the worse? Would she do that?

He licked his lips, his mouth had just gone dry as he thought of what could happen in the near future. "Uh, that's cool of you, okay . ." He had already reached his limits of "thank you"s the night before, so now he had to wait another year to be able to say it again.

"But, in case something does go wrong," her eyes were full of concern, concern for someone who was despised by almost everybody, "I w-want you to be able not to rely on Shifty for anything . . so today . . I'm going to teach you everything I can that will prepare you for the outside world!"

The twin suppressed a chuckle at her enthusiastic proposal, but he began branching out on the idea of not having to beg Shifty to take him back into the house and just . . be on his own. It didn't have to be "Shifty and Lifty: The Greedy, Mischievous Twins Who Nobody Likes", it could just be Shifty with that title and he could be "Lifty: The Twin Who—" Who . . He would have to figure out what came after that.

"I'm listening."

Satisfied that she had caught his attention, Flaky said, "Well, we could start by cleaning up y-your image and reputation." Great, did that mean apologizing to everyone he had ever stolen from? If there was anything he hated more than thanking someone, it was apologizing to them. "And I know someone who would really help us! He's super sweet and one of the nicest people I know!"

He noticed that her face reddened at the thought of whoever she was talking about, and that made him less excited about being dragged to go meet them. Because if he did, she'd probably be making googly eyes at him the entire time and he wouldn't get anything out of it. "Eh, yeah?"

"Yes! And he's just the kindest person ever, you'll really like him!" Eyes shining and a wide smile on her face, she told him to go and get himself cleaned and dressed so they could leave. And based on the speed that her words had spilled out in, he knew that she wanted to leave fast.

Afterwards, when he had changed into his freshly washed and dried clothes, he came out of the bathroom and that's when Flaky rushed him out the door.

"The library's going to open soon! And we have to be there before he's too busy to talk to us!" She shoved him in her car, which was a bit hard since he was taller and her car was small, but they did it; even if his head was nearly hitting the roof.

The whole car ride there, Lifty picked up tiny signs of her nervousness when she talked about the boy. Tapping on the wheel, adjusting her mirrors more times than what was needed, eyes darting from one sign and the road to another. He wondered just how close these two were . . .

"We're here!" Flaky called out and pushed the break down, giving them a sharp jolt. She backed up, parallel parked between two other vehicles, and shot out the door. "Come on, Lifty, the doors are almost going to open!"

His mood darkening, he unbuckled his seatbelt and got out, following her up the steps to the town library. He had never been here before, since there never was a real need for the twins to steal books full of nothing but rubbish. Not to mention that he found reading a waste of time, so he couldn't imagine what kind of loser would work there; it was the most boring place he could think of.

Flaky eagerly hopped up the steps two at a time, her nose pressing up against the clear doors when she made it to the top. She waved Lifty—who was still walking up the steps slowly—over and said she was saw the boy. Tapping loudly on the glass, she said, "Flipppyy! Hey Flips! Open the door!"

Inside, the green haired librarian glanced up and saw Flaky waving to him at the door. He smiled, glad to see his friend, and got up to go unlock the doors so she could come in. As they opened, he pulled her into a hug, his tone laced with pleasure, "Hey! What are you doing here? Aren't you still working on that book from last week?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, but that's not what I'm here for," She looked at the steps. "I'm here because—"

"Fucking God, how many steps are there?" Lifty finally had made it past the last step and was leaning on one of the pillars the library used for decoration. "They should just put a damn ramp or something."

Flippy's hand went to his pocket where he kept his knife at, and he glared at the complaining male. "Why is that rotten thief here? Flaky, what's going on?"

She deflated a little, the word rotten knocking off some of the hope that they would get along. "O-oh, uh, I just wanted to see if you could help him with something . . He's my new friend and—"

Lifty cocked an eyebrow up, they were friends? Right.

"—he's having some family trouble so he's staying with me—"

And at that moment, Flippy and Lifty made eye contact, and it was like everything else besides their glares turned black while the electricity between them hit the dangerous mark.

This was going to be interesting.

* * *

**Yeaahh slight FlippyxFlaky in this and the next chappie probably, but I can't help it. Flippy's crush on her is too obvious to just push away into nothing. Screw you guys these chapters are going to be short from now on xD**


	4. No touchies

Have you ever had that awkward moment where no one knows what to say and it feels like you can just cut the air with a knife because the tension is just so thick? Well, that's exactly what was happening between Lifty, Flaky, and Flippy.

After the mental battle to the death that the two boys had had, Flippy had gotten a hold of himself and—with a fake smile—said how nice it was that Flaky was helping someone. Actually, his real words were "How nice, Flaky's doing charity work. I guess it's never too late to take an orphan in." or . . . at least that's what Lifty translated it to.

The librarian had led them inside and said that they could talk in private at one of the tables; he had lied. There wasn't much talking going on now as Flippy stared at Lifty without blinking, or even breathing it seemed.

Lifty and Flippy were sitting straight across from each other at the ends of the table, Flaky in the middle of them with a confused smile that made it all the more awkward.

Despite the size of the library, the fact that there was no one else inside and thus no noise to distract them made everything else sound louder, the sound of the ticking clock in the background sounded like pebbles being thrown in a metal bucket. Lifty's tapping foot on the floor matched the moving hands with every tick.

_Tick. Tick. Tick._

Eyebrow twitching, Lifty looked away from Flippy and decided to admire the 'No Talking' sign. Adding to his foot tapping, his fingers started hitting the table nervously as he glanced back at him, "Can you stop staring at me? I feel like you're looking into my soul or some crap like that, knock it off."

Flippy glared at him, a darker shine in his eyes than he had any other time; the shine that marked jealousy. He didn't respond to him, but rather turned to Flaky, the look disappearing as it was covered up by his normal politeness. "So, Flakes, what was the reason for you bringing this . . person to me?"

"Oh! Oh, u-uh," Flaky hadn't enjoyed the silence at all; though she liked it being quiet sometimes, she didn't like it being filled with . . just nothing, "I thought that maybe you would be able to g-give him some pointers on how to be . ." She scratched her head as she tried picking a word that wouldn't offend the masked boy. "How to be . . How to choose w-wiser decisions? Like, um, maybe something simple . ."

"Alright, I think I understand what you're saying," Flippy reached into his jacket pocket and took out a brown leather wallet, waving it in the air while he got up and walked around. "Alright, _Lifty_, let's start out with something that you have to control since you're you and everything."

Lifty stared at him with an annoyed face, taking some offense to his remark. "What is it."

"Okay, let's say you're walking down the street when you suddenly see a stranger," he pointed to himself, "drop their wallet," dropping the wallet, he continued strolling away like he hadn't done it on purpose, "what should you do? Why don't you show us what would happen in a situation like this."

Getting up, Lifty grinned and walked over to pick it up, already knowing what the right answer was. "Eh duh, you find that person," he walked over to where Flippy had stopped at, "and you give it back," he handed it back smugly. "You're welcome."

Flippy took it with a straight face, and, without checking inside it, said, "Great, now give me back my twenty dollars."

Lifty's smug face dropped as he scowled and held out the bill which he had expertly fished out of the wallet and hid in his glove. Flippy didn't actually believe that he would pass by an unwatched wallet and just give it back, did he? It was like passing by a person who was screaming out that they had free money and they were just throwing it everywhere; it was impossible.

Stiffling a laugh, Flaky tried to be serious about it, but she couldn't help but think that her new friend was such a good pick pocket. "L-Lifty! Seriously?"

"It was begging me to take it, probably knows that this loser isn't gonna spend it," he mouthed a sarcastic 'oops' after he said loser and smirked. "So sorry, I meant to call you something else."

"Yeah, whatever," Flippy brushed it off, not going to give the thief the satisfaction of getting on his nerves. "Anyways, why don't we try a new procedure to get you out of that bad . . habit." His green eyes said that he wasn't going to put up with the twin's shenanigans from here on out, so he was expected not to do anything that was considered stupid, sneaky, or cocky.

Throwing his wallet on the table, he went on the other side and knelt down on the floor, nodding for Lifty to step forward and try to grab it.

Of course, Lifty didn't trust him with a bit of his being, so he just had to ask in his suspicion, "What's gonna happen if I do reach for it?"

Flippy shrugged lightly, "I don't know, why don't you find out?"

Suspecting the solider and what might happen, he reached out and laid a finger on the warm leather before—

_Smack!_

"Ow!?" Lifty took his hand back, hissing quietly at the reddening line of skin that was about one inch wide and went from his knuckle to the beginning of his wrist. Emerald eyes narrowing, he looked at the flexible ruler the veteran was idly twirling around, the thing that had caused him pain. He rubbed his hand, growling out, "What the hell was that for?!"

"It was implied for you _not_ to touch it," he answered innocently, his lips curving into a smirk that showed that he fully intended for Lifty to do touch it. Flexing the ruler, he paid no attention to Flaky stammering out if that was a good idea; pain wouldn't do anything! Would it?

"Well," determined to beat Flippy at his own game, Lifty decided to annoy him further and touch it again, "guess who's touching it~"

_Smack!_

"I didn't even feel that~"

_Smack!_

"I'm still touching it~"

_Smack!_

"Wow, you really want to cause me harm, huh?~"

xXx

Lifty was staring out the car window, watching the passing houses and trees as the sun reached the middle of the sky. He was holding his permanently red hand to himself protectively, the stinging still there. Did he regret it? Maybe. But did he enjoy seeing the frustration on the soldier's face as he continually tried to get a reaction out of him whenever he brought the ruler down? Hell to the yes.

Flaky was hunched over the steering wheel, eyes focused on the road as she let the awkward silence come back and hang in between them. ". . . What did you learn?"

"That it's funny to see that idiot bust a nut while trying to get me to not steal his wallet."

"Uh . . m-maybe Lammy has a book or something that you can read for manners . ."

* * *

**:p Still not in the writing mood, but enjoy I guess. Crystal is now in debt to me for three updates lololol~**


	5. The two important lessons

**Finally an update yeah! I was gonna put this on hiatus, but eh. I'll pop some ideas out. This chapter is just random.**

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Flaky pulled her car into a parking spot, shutting off the engine and pulling the key out, "Do you w-want to go inside with me? It won't take long . ." She looked at the dry cleaners where she was going to pick up one of Giggles' new dresses for her, then back at Lifty's bored expression. "We'll be in a-and be out . ."

Leaning his elbow against the arm rest on the door, he used his abused hand to wave her off, "The only things there are to steal at a cleaners are balls of lint and crappy outfits, no thanks. I'll just wait in here."

"O-okay," she awkwardly held out the key to him, saying that if he wanted to he could put the radio on until she came back. Opening the driver's door and unclipping her seatbelt, she left the car, jumping and hurrying inside the building when she saw Disco Bear rolling down the same sidewalk as her.

Lifty rolled his eyes, turning the car back on and fiddling with the radio while thinking of how easy it would be for him to hop into the driver's seat and just ditch her. He stopped at the thought, ". . What an idiotic girl." Sitting back and putting his hands behind his head, he shut his eyes and sighed, deciding to catch a few winks.

The gentle sound of the light wind blowing through the crack in the window along with the warmth created from the incoming sun slowly lulled him to a half conscious state. He was content to fall asleep right there and then, if a sudden tapping on the window hadn't disturbed him.

Lip pulling back over his canines as he half growled, he opened one eye lazily, asking himself who would even dare bothering him. He wasn't a person who you came up to just to say hello, and if that person hadn't realized that by his glaring, his harsh voice should've warded them off. "What?" His sight clearing as he rubbed his eye, his ears were met with the most irritating . . shrill . . little voice that they had ever heard.

"Hello!"

"Are you kidding me," He muttered through barely moving lips. If he didn't breathe and didn't make eye contact, then the other would think he was dead or something and leave.

Fat chance.

"What are you doing in Flaky's car!?" The boy with fair lime green hair, streaks of yellow going through it, pressed his face up to the window, his nose and face becoming smushed against it. His heavy breathing created a thin layer of condensation on the glass as his one large, working eye stared at the thief. "Are you her friend or something?! Or maybe you're a salesperson!? Are you trying to force her to buy your stuff?!

"But that wouldn't work! She's not even in the car with you silly! So how is she gonna buy your stuff if she doesn't know you're there?! Oh my gawd are you taking her car and selling it to pay for the stuff she's gonna buy without even knowing she is!? What kind of mean man would do that!? Hey . . do you have any skittles in there with you?! I see something colorfuuulll!"

Sweet Jesus this boy was annoying. He must not have a brain, either, because he obviously didn't remember that he had met and done business with the twin before. All the candy he ingested must have done something to affect how much capacity his mind had for memories, that was his theory, at least.

Leaning away from the window and rolling it up at the same time, Lifty sent the boy a nasty look, fuming a mean and irritated attitude. "What the hell do you want, you obnoxious cavity, is there a reason why you're waking me up? Is the town on fire? Did your sister get trapped in the fucking well? If you answer no to any of these choices, I am going to slam the door open on your face."

Grouchy Lifty was someone you didn't want to mess with, Nutty found out, giggling and shaking his head. "I just wanted to see why you were taking a nap in her car! Did I wake you up? I'm SORRY! But where's Flaky!? I need her! Where is she?! Is she in the back or in the cleaners or maybe she went to buy me some fudge and I love fudge so if she bought it for me I would be sooo happy and—wait what was I asking?"

Overcome with giggles, he didn't notice that the other green haired male had shut the window completely and turned away from him. He opened his eyes, seeing him sort through papers in a bored manner and no longer paying attention to the energetic person.

"Hey! No no wait I remember what I had to really ask! What my real question was!" Nutty brought his fist up, leaving small urgent knocks when he thought the twin couldn't hear him anymore. "Hey hey hey hey hey hey! Can you hear me!? Okay so here's what it was, Russel wanted me to ask Flaky to come to the grand opening of his restaurant! Are you even listening?! So that's why I needed to find her or else I'll be letting Russel down!"

This little freak was going to give him a headache, he could already feel it coming on as he pressed a finger to his temple. He angled the rearview mirror at himself to see the vein in his forehead popping out in frustration, frustration that the chatter box of a person was causing.

"So then I saw her car and I thought she'd be inside it but she wasn't and you were instead and it was just wow!" Nutty threw out his arms to emphasize the word. "It was just wow because I didn't know that Flaky had a cousin! She never told me she did that's why!"

Lifty raised an eyebrow, lips curving down in a questioning frown. "Cousin?"

"Yeah!" Pleased that he had gotten a reaction out of him, he kept going. "She didn't even tell anyone that you were visiting from wherever you come from! Where are you staying at? You should see the town it's awesome! Hey maybe you can come to the grand opening of the restaurant too! And you could meet all of her friends and everyone would learn about you and it'll be super amazin—"

Before he could spill anything else out that would further anger the man and force him to strangle the addict, the door to the cleaner's opened and out came Flaky, a hot pink dress thrown over her arm in a plastic, protective cover. She was busy mumbling to herself and flattening out the wrinkles on the bag, but immediately she picked up the high pitched, near screaming voice of her friend.

She stopped at the strange sight before her of Nutty screaming at the passenger window while her guest was leaning down to the side farthest from him, eye twitching and hands going up to massage his forehead.

"Uh—oh, N-Nutty, hi?" Flaky stepped down from the sidewalk and laid a hand on the hood of her car, hesitantly inching to the driver's seat, scared that he would use a loud tone to speak with her.

"Flaky!" Instead of walking around the front of the car like any normal person would, he chose to crawl over the hood and jump down in front of her to save time, his face transformed in a huge smile. "Hiya! What are you doing!? I met your cousin," he leaned in to say in his horrible attempt at whispering, "and he's mean . . !"

Figuring that he had pushed Lifty's buttons too many times in the seven minutes she was gone, she wouldn't have blamed him for being snappish at the sugar loving male.

"He's not really my cousin . . ."

Eyes bulging out of his head, Nutty gasped and asked, "You're saying he's adopted!?"

"N-no just—huuh . . yes. Y-yes he is. D-did you have something to t-tell me?"

Adopted, he had never seen it coming. "Yeah I did! I was telling your cousin to tell you but I don't think he heard me! Russel told me to tell you once I found you that he wants you to come to his new restaurant, he said we have to help him! Boo! I hate WORKING! But then he said he'd give me his secret hoard of candy and I was happy again!" He stopped, the movement of his chest still normal as he breathed in, not affected by the outpour of words in one breath of air.

Flaky smiled, her head overloaded with how fast he had spilled his news out. "T-that was today?" She had completely forgotten, what with her mind wrapped around her new friend and his predicament, but she hadn't thought it was today, especially at that moment. Though, she vaguely remembered Russel calling her and asking for her help, to which she had agreed to, unknown to her at the time that she would have a surprise guest.

"Yeah! And he said we have to be there, like, now or it'll never open and his dream will never come true and that his life will be over!" He still smiled, bouncing on the heel of his feet like the impending doom of someone's life wasn't his concern in the faintest of ways. Because, in all honesty, it really wasn't, the only thing he got out of this was a trunk of goodies that would last him ten minutes tops.

"His life will be . . over . ." a short, huffy giggle came from her as she tugged on a tendril of hair. She couldn't be part of the reason somebody's life was ruined, even if it was just because their restaurant didn't open on time, it was still important to them. Nodding, she got into her car, throwing the dress in the back and pointing to the seat. "W-want a ride Nutty?"

"Would I?!" Climbing in through the driver's seat and squishing her in the process, he fell into the back, his foot accidently kicking Lifty in the side of his head and causing his shoe to slip off into his lap.

Containing a string of curses with a great amount of effort, he picked up it up, opened the window, and succeeded in throwing and landing it in the trashcan he was aiming for. He sat back, rubbing his head and glaring at the boy, who was oblivious to the fact that he only had one shoe now, while he growled to the red head. "Why the fuck did you let that thing in here, is there somewhere we're taking him? To a mental hospital?"

"Y-you'll see . ." She really was hoping that she wouldn't have to pull over on the way to pry his hands from Nutty's neck.

xXx

"We're here!" Flaky called out, unlocking the doors and hurrying Lifty out, seeing his clenched fists and malicious stare he was delivering the addict with. His tolerance had more than likely grown smaller and smaller throughout the car ride, Nutty's pointing out of random objects they passed and screams of joy only worsening his mood. She recalled how she had needed to lay a hand on his arm to stop him from almost punching the childish teen, his emerald eyes filled with loathing.

But, that was over and done with, she was able to let out her breath of air she had held in the entire ride now that Nutty had ran off, laughing about how was going to paint candy canes for the window designs—even though it was a seafood eatery.

Lifty sat on the hood of her car and shut his eyes once again, his foot bobbing slightly in the air. He didn't seem to notice that she was staring at him, her pointing to the restaurant asking the question for her.

"L-Lifty?"

Sighing, he looked at her, trying to keep the annoyance from leaking into his expression; it was peculiar to him, but he wasn't fond of the idea of aiming his temper at her. It must've had to do with the saying, 'Don't bite the hand that feeds you'. "What?"

"I-I was just going to ask if maybe you w-wanted to help out? I'm sure that Russel would appreciate the e-extra and . . it might show that y-you can be . . helpful instead of stealing all the time . ."

Did he really want to help out when he didn't want to and be a good person? To get up and not be lazy, to be somewhere he would rather be anywhere else than, and to have to associate with people he didn't like? Just to give him good standings?

"No."

Deflating at the simple rejection, she nodded and shuffled away to leave him alone, whispering out, "O-okay . . ! Sorry I asked . ."

He frowned and shut his eyes, turning his face away from the sun and telling himself that, next time, he would make his answer less blunt.

xXx

An hour later, and with Lifty still napping on her car, Russel's head tilted to the side, his shoulder length, jagged cut hair swaying into his face as he crossed his arms. His ocean blue eyes were directed at the thief's resting form, a slight frown on his tanned face as he walked closer to him, wooden pegs clunking against the concrete.

His frown only deepened when he heard the snoring, the sign of pure laziness.

"Yar," he took a square of scratch metal he had picked up on his walk around the restaurant from his pocket and ran his hook down it, the screeching equivalent to nails on a chalkboard. Reaching the end of the scrap piece, he dragged the sharp tip in another line, watching the reaction he got from the sleeping twin.

Face scrunching up at the unpleasant noise, Lifty woke up and immediately glared at the pirate who had disturbed him. "What's today, annoy and wake the sleeping twin whenever he's trying to fucking sleep."

"Is there a reason why ye ain't working like the rest of the crew?"

"Screw off," The restaurant was almost done being given its paint job, and the debris in the area around it was getting picked up; he didn't need to assist the rest like he always did. It was nice not having to do any work for a change.

Pondering on what he could say, Russel spotted Flaky dragging a ladder behind her and leaning it against the building, a banner she was about to hang on the ground. "What about ye lassie? Ye ain't worried about her fallin'? There ain't a soul 'round to help her, all but ye are busy."

Finding his way of speech somewhat difficult to understand, and not to mention borderline weird, he had to crane his head over the shoulder of the pirate to be able to see the female fan herself before bending down to pick up the banner. Then he glanced back at him, understanding his implication of what he should do. "Why should I?"

"Tis just a hunch that ye would want to help yer lassie, but, if ye ain't feelin' up to it, she could always do it on her own. Where she could fall, and hurt herself, and there'd be not a person who'd notice, because the one being who was free didn't care—"

"Alright!" Getting up, Lifty rolled his eyes. "I didn't need a freaking ticket to a guilt trip, I was gonna get up right now anyways." He walked past him, ignoring his low chuckle at the twin's excuse for helping her when he said he wouldn't.

"Uh, hey Flaky, did you still need any—" Grunting when he was pushed aside and sent stumbling into the wall of a port-a-potty, he grew stiff with hatred at the sound of a voice that was even more revolting and sickening than Nutty's.

"I can help you Flaky! You know me, I'm all about helping! Don't worry I won't let you fall!"

Emerald eyes narrowing, he spat on the floor at the sight of the blue clad hero holding the ladder for her. It was disgusting how happy and pleasant he was all the damn time, and even more vomit inducing how he offered to help whoever was in need, even when they didn't need it, like now with Flaky. She didn't look too keen on accepting the clumsy male's help, but it was likely she didn't want to offend him, the tight lipped smile on her face and the worriedness in her eyes made it obvious to anyone.

Everyone except the cheerful idiot himself that is.

Splendid was smiling gleefully as he steadied the ladder, making polite conversation with the girl while she pinned one side of the banner to the restaurant.

Intent on going nowhere near the fool, Lifty was tempted to go back to his spot on her car, but his feet were planted in the ground as he watched the duo. He didn't exactly know _what _he was looking for or _why_ he was doing this, but he just had a feeling he should be searching for any signs of . .—Eyebrows scrunching together, he squinted at the hero's face, noticing the growing blush.

"The hell . ."

"I-is this high enough?" Flaky asked, her arms turning numb from having to hold up it up, finding it heavier than it looked to be.

"Just a little higher," Splendid responded, wearing a smile as he gazed up at her. "Maybe if you stood on your tippy toes and stretched further it would be high enough, try it."

Nodding, she stood on the tips of her toes, stretching her limbs the furthest they could go, and completely unaware that her sweater and skirt were riding up. "L-like this?"

"Yup! Maybe just a tiny bit higher!"

Suspicious of his actions, he pushed off his dislike for the male and strode forward, adding no sound to his steps as he snuck up behind the hero and craned his head up to see what was going on. And when he did . .

He could see a perfect view of the girl's black panties, the skirt bunching up with her sweater the higher she stretched and showing the perverted blue haired boy the reason he had helped her out in the first place. It was too bad for him, though, that this particular female was the only one out of her friends that decided she preferred underwear instead of the thin thongs they wore, saying that they were not her style and a bit too trampy.

Blushing and scowling up at her bottom, eye starting to twitch again, he looked at Splendid and hissed out, "You perverted bastard, she thought you really wanted to help!" He shoved him aside and took his place for holding the ladder, averting his eyes from the sight above him.

Lifty, whisper shouting at the male to leave and having to promise that he wouldn't steal the breads he baked anymore until he agreed to go be helpful somewhere else, didn't see the hopping blur of yellow and green until it was next to him, looking up to see what all the fuss was about.

Nutty blinked once before bursting out in giggles and pointing up, screaming, "OOOHH! YOU WERE LOOKING AT FLAKY'S UNDIES WEREN'T YOU!?"

This boy was seriously going on his list of people he'd rob every day.

The air grew tense and shadowed as the twin looked up, seeing Flaky turn her head to the screaming and catch his stare, the blood rushing to her face as she screamed too and dropped the banner. Her sudden movement knocked her off balance, sending her falling back off the ladder.

"Oh my God! Fla—"

With a flash of blue flying past them at lightning speed, the girl was caught in her fall and cradled in the arms of the superhero from before. He descended to the ground, holding her shaking form to his chest and murmuring, "I knew I shouldn't have let some untrustworthy, sly thief hold the ladder, I should've known that he would shake it and make you fall.

"The pervert, I bet he was looking up your skirt too, wasn't he? I could tell from where I was working at. Some people are just so disgusting, it makes me sick, but don't worry Flaky, I wouldn't let you fall or ever look anywhere that is private to you." Splendid smirked when the shuddering girl buried her face in his shirt, and it only grew when he saw Lifty staring at him in shock.

Today, the twin had learned that it's better to help the first time you're asked rather than waiting around.

Along with finding out that Splendid was actually a perverted asshole under all the fake cheeriness. Oh how he hated him even more now.

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**LOL so I guess you can say that this chapter had slight SplendidxFlaky xD Hey, the multishipper in me came out, along with not being able to be serious while writing this. Don't know where this story's going, but yeah! This was easier to type up than I thought XD**


	6. Mean

"You do realize that your 'Hero' Splendid is actually a self-righteous asshole, right." Lifty questioned. He was leaning against her kitchen counter, arms crossed, and occasionally scowling. His green eyes darted from the back of her vivid red hair to the digital blue numbers above her stove, his frown growing when she didn't respond to him; not that he thought she would.

For the past twenty minutes, ever since they had gotten through their silent dinner and she had started washing dishes, she had given him the cold shoulder, the silent treatment was the simplistic term. He didn't know why, because he had apologized – somewhat apologized – for the problem that he didn't cause, a smaller version of a crime that he wasn't guilty for, and she had forgiven him. So why was she angry at him now?

Would it have to do with how he had tried kicking Splendid's ass after he had put her down? Because if it was, the blue haired pervert had deserved it in the first place, and besides, he had _tried_ to beat him up, but because of the disadvantage between his strength and the hero's, he had ended up getting his own injury.

Punching a superhuman across the face when they had skin like cement had not been the greatest idea the thief had thought of, but it had been an impulse reaction.

He had been trying to defend Flaky, why didn't she realize that? And what made it even worse and more frustrating for the twin was the untruthful lie that had been murmured to her. All the blame was being put on him for doing what, trying to help out and be nice for once instead of staying asleep like he had wanted. The one time that he had been convinced into trying to be a good person had ended in him being accused of something he didn't do.

Lifty knew what the accusation of committing a crime felt like, and he accepted it with a smirk on his face because he knew that it was all true, he had done it all and he wouldn't try to lie his way out of it. But when he was accused of pulling some stupid little trick that would help him look up a girl's skirt – it had been a blow to his pride, and it had most likely taken a toll on the trust that Flaky was giving him. It shouldn't have, and maybe it didn't still, but it was all unclear, and she wasn't helping by not answering to him when he was talking to her.

"Are you even going to talk to me anymore, Flaky?" Lifty furrowed his eyebrows and sighed in exasperation, fingers drumming on his arm as he waited for an answer. The only sound he got in response was the trickling of the water coming from the faucet, splashing down onto the soapy plates and draining away. "Flaky? Come on, don't be that way, I know you're going to have to answer to me sometime.

"I don't understand why you won't answer me, if it's about the bone that I have to pick with that idiot, it's between us. You shouldn't have interrupted it, I could have taken care of myself just fine without you protecting me." He scoffed, referring to how she had stood between him and the hero when they were about to get into another fight.

She didn't have to do it, he would have been able to do just fine with his newly sprained hand, it wasn't like he had begged her to stop it and save him from the moron's power. He would have never willingly taken her help, even if he had broken bones and a bloody nose, she had stooped in before he knew that she had figured out what was going on between the two teens.

Saved by a girl in the middle of a fight, he'd be a laughing stock in his old household, his teasing and constantly bringing it up to hold over his head.

The silence he was getting from her was tiring to say the least, he was always used to one person, at the least, telling him what to do or giving him some kind of order . . . But with her just pushing him aside . . it got under his skin. He was beginning to think that she had lost her voice from the shock of the fall, though the idea left when she spoke, her words soft and picked out carefully.

"If I hadn't interrupted," she never lingered on each sponge stroke, as if she wanted to remove all the muck on each plate while she dealt with the actually problem, "you would've gotten h-hurt. I didn't want to s-see you take the pain . . just because you were mad at Splendid . ."

Oh, mad didn't even begin to cover how he had felt towards the wannabe good guy. Loathing, hatred, utter repulsion, any of those words would have fitted better instead of such an overused one. But she wouldn't know what he was feeling, no, because she didn't, wouldn't bother thinking could happen, that her seemingly helpful friend would think of doing anything along the lines of being perverted. That's what also ticked him off about the situation.

But . . he couldn't overlook or pretend to not hear what she said about not wanting him to be hurt . . If that was true, he should have felt grateful that a person would be so kind as to step in and intervene when they saw he was hurt . . It didn't though. The fact of the matter was she thought he did something that he didn't.

"I never said I needed your help," retorted Lifty.

Flaky sighed, he was so stubborn she had learned the past two days, and looked over her shoulder to give him the full attention of her firm eyes. "O-oh yeah? Who was the one to drive y-you to the hospital to get an X-ray on your hand?"

His lips pressed into a hard line, he shrugged. "I could've hijacked a car and gone there myself."

"Who was the one who c-convinced Splendid to not go after you in your weak state? And also n-not try to carry you to the hospital?"

"He probably just wanted to drop me halfway there like the jackass he is," Lifty muttered to himself. It was times like this that he strongly believed that the klutz of a man knew what would occur and the deaths that would happen if he helped anybody; that's why he had insisted on helping him to the medical center.

Already he could imagine the excuse that Splendid would tell her when he came back empty handed, saying that he had accidentally lost hold of the twin and he was splattered against the road somewhere.

She stood quiet, her smooth, pale hands scrubbing over the plate that had long since been ready to be rinsed. Only after she had decided to rinse all the soapy residue off, the swirling foam disappearing down the drain, and put it on the drying rack did she turn to him. "What was I s-supposed to do? Stand by . . watch my friends get into a fight . . and do nothing?"

This sweet, loving, caring side of her was really starting to get infuriating. She was genuinely helpful, never asking for anything in return and just doing things for the welfare of others – and he didn't understand it one bit.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you, don't talk to strangers. If they say don't talk to them, you really think that they mean that it's okay to let them into your household and help them, just because they didn't say not to do it?" He was the stranger, the dark, mean, mysterious person who lurked the town in the dead of night to do and steal what he wanted; a Robin Hood with completely different reasons from stealing from the rich to give to the poor. Screw the poor, steal from the rich and keep for the greedy.

Then there was her, the innocent little girl who had thought she could befriend the stranger by being nice to him. The poor child wouldn't know what he was capable of doing, she had no street knowledge. Too trusting, naive, unaware of the unforgiving world that was out there. She had let her defenses come down and practically invited the stranger, the robber, to do anything he pleased.

But had she known the things about him that made him into the hated person he was, would she had even spared a passing glance? Obviously she would, because where was he now? Trying to convince her that he was someone who didn't need any kind of help from anyone.

"I just wanted to—!" She was cut short, a squeak forcing itself from her lips as her eyes widened. "Wha—!"

The man had closed the three steps between them with ease, hands placed on the counter on either side of her as he trapped her. He wore a small scowl, green eyes scrutinizing her face for any reaction he had gotten out of her. His glare pierced into her, the mischievous gone and replaced with seriousness, as his features grew mean, threatening.

"Lifty . . !" Flaky shrunk, crimson eyes watering as she quivered under the stare. It was . . different from his other sly, joking look. "I-I'm sorry if you got m-mad" –She poked her fingers together and stared at his chest, away from his gaze— "B-but I told you! I wasn't going to stand by and watch you two fight! . ."

"Why?"

"H-Hm?" Surprised by the question, her eyes snapped up to his. "What do you mean?"

The edge never left his stare as his mouth pulled back in a smirk. "I asked why? Look, Flaky, if you haven't noticed, I'm not nice, some people would even call me mean, so why bother with trying to help me by stopping something that didn't physically involve you?"

She didn't have a real answer for that, it was too direct and he didn't give enough time for her to think about it, so the first thing she thought of came tumbling out of her mouth. "B-because! That's not the kind of person I-I am! It's in my m-morals to help anyone . . because if I didn't . . who would know what I'm missing o-out on . ." Hand resting on his arm, she smiled tenderly, watching of her words had stricken a cord. "B-besides . . I don't think you're mean . .

"You're nice and . . I do believe that if you just tried hard enough you'd be living like anyone—" In the middle of her small speech she was interrupted, squeaking loudly when he grabbed the wrist of the hand that had been on his arm. With one tight squeeze, her face was contorted in discomfort and slight pain, half shut eyes staring at him in question at the sudden harshness.

Lifty smiled a little, glad that he wasn't hearing anymore of the niceness talk. If she wanted so badly to believe that he was a good guy, and that he wasn't the shifty crook that everyone knew he was, she'd have to reconsider after this. "Are you sure about that, Flaky~? It's not too late to change your mind."

Biting back the low whimpers she was inclined to utter, she shook her head, curls of hair dropping into her face and creating a crescent shape around her eye. "N-no . . I know you're just trying to scare me . . and it's not going to—" She whined, his other hand having come up and squished her face in his rough, calloused palm.

"It's almost cute how you think that everything in this world is perfect," Lifty started, chuckling at the highly uncomfortable look she had as she shifted from foot to foot, one hand grabbing onto the front of his shirt as a sign that she wanted to be released. "You really don't believe me when I say I'm mean?"

"N-no." Answered Flaky, defiance towards accepting the description he gave himself clear.

"Well you're wrong." All signs of humor fleeting his face, the smile dissipating into nothing, he let go of her wrist to bring it back onto the counter. His other hand still locking her wrist to him, he gave a flick to it, partly twisting, to twirl her around and face the sink. Her waving strands of hair as she was forcefully spun hung down like a drape that blocked her from seeing anything in her peripheral vision, the only thing in her line of sight were the faucet and garbage disposal switch.

Gnawing the flesh of her cheek, the nervous habit she had, she curved both slender eyebrows up in concern, assuming that the worst event that her mind could conjure up was about to take place. Her wrist getting sore, and the sensation of unease rising when she heard his nails grating into the wood of the counter, she was about to object, but was never given the opportunity when his hand cupped her mouth. Her tender lips being pressed down by the coarse skin, her ability to speak gone, she worried herself about what he would do.

"How mean do you want me to be to understand that trusting a man like me is wrong, it's what stupid people do. Because you know what happens when you trust people? They turn on you one day and betray you like you're nothing," He said, bitterness coating each and every word. "This was nice of you, I'll give you that, but I should really teach you a lesson about how easy you should give out invitations to your house." Grabbing her elbow and bending the joint, forearm now behind her back, he brought his mouth to the part of her hair where the top her ear showed through, his tone partially playful.

"Do you think I'm mean yet?" A mumble vibrating against his hand, the short, one syllable answer sounding like a no, he pressed against her backside, his body curving over hers and chest laying flat against her back. He could feel the warmth radiating from the skin of her cheeks where his fingers touched, the pose striking her as embarrassing. Feeling the arm under him feebly tugging on his vest and the quickening vibrations he felt, he could only assume that she was beginning awkward with what was happening.

"Just say that I'm mean and I'll let go~" Lifty cocked his head, his ear nearly pressing against the silky, tangled, scarlet strands of hair. She gave him no reply; he dug his short nails into the skin of her arm, barely making any indents, but it was enough to rile her up to the point where she whimpered, giving a small shake of her head to answer him. "You're not an easy one to give in, are you Flaky~? You should really just say the two words, and I won't ever have to be this persistent again."

The edge of the counter pressing into her bunchy sweater, her forehead inches above the faucet, and jabbed into the soft flesh of her abdomen. It was more trapping – with Lifty pressed up behind her, and the sink raising up to her face as she was lowered further by the weight on her back – than painful, causing her to toy with the thought of him not showing her his full strength and what he was capable of doing. The adjustments of his weight he was making more often, now that he was practically spooning her while standing up, only proved further that he had no real intention of hurting her, this was more for show than anything.

Lifty frowned when he felt the trembling of her body from beneath him, for instead of fear or the muffled protests he had been expecting, the faint giggling squeezed out from behind his hand. She was actually finding this funny. She was finding being without any kind of power and in a position where he could do anything that he wanted, sexual or harmful, and she was giggling about it. Like she didn't know what could happen to her – she really was a naive little girl.

"What's so funny?" Annoyed that his plan wasn't going to way he had thought it would in the five minutes before when they were in nothing but silence, he let his hand slide down from her lips and trail the sensitive area under her jaw.

Flaky smiled, paying little attention to his touches and giggled again. "I-it's just . . I found it funny that you m-made me believe your act for a moment . . I almost thought that you really were g-going to do something!" –Another laugh— "You know . . if n-none of the jobs that we'll look for one of these days works for you . . maybe y-you can go into the acting business . . !"

She had unintentionally killed his thunder right there, leaving him confused, a bit mad, but overall surprised that she didn't shed one tear through the entire harassment session, being the crybaby that she was known as.

Dropping his hands to his sides, he grumbled something about having to go see if he dropped his raccoon chain in the seat of the couch and leaving her in her giggle fit, scowling more now that his meanings to give her a threat went down the toilet. He was almost out of the kitchen door when he felt a warm body pushed up against his back, his muscles tensing as two slim arms wrapped around his torso in a hug.

An eyebrow arched, he looked behind him warily, "W-what . ."

Flaky turned her eyes up to him, face glowing from the contact and pink lips upturned in a friendly smile. "If it makes you f-feel any better . . I'll s-say this . . Lifty, I think you're m-mean!" After she had said it, she emitted another giggle, burrowing her face into the musky scented shirt he was wearing, ignoring the look he had that said it didn't make him feel any better.

**xXx**

**Hey changed my A/N style and I typed this up on my Kindle through Evernote (OMG CRYSTAL you were right I do feel freer when writing it there instead of a normal laptop xD) so if there's any mistakes . . Feh I'll read it tomorrow when I'm not tired. Now that I can just type these from a non-heavyassandtiringlaptop . . I think I'll type more chapters later! :D School will not thwart me!**


	7. Who likes stretching!

Having Lifty as a guest was . . nice, Flaky supposed. He was decent enough to have around her house, though he rarely lifted a finger to assist her, preferring to sit back on the couch and watch her with interest while she would went about finishing chores or catering to him.

This catering business, as he liked to call it, never ceased to amuse him. With just a wave of his hand in the air it was like food or whatever he wanted - the remote, a magazine, or a movie to watch - would appear out of nowhere! With no effort! Actually, it was only on his part that there was no effort. Flaky would be working on her school papers or be catching up on her reading when he'd drawl out from the living room that he was hungry or thirsty.

But, other than that, he was a real joy to be around! Rude when he didn't get what he wanted, snappish towards people who looked at him when they went out, and downright ungrateful if she tried to show him an ounce of kindness, he couldn't have been a better sport about her giving him a house to stay in . . .

The few times he did help were when he noticed her reaching for a box a cereal, her shortness getting the better of her, and while she struggled, he'd simply grab the box from the shelf it was on and handed it to her. Then, as she tried thanking him, he'd grunt dismissively and, like he was trying to prove that he wasn't nice without a price, make a mess of pouring his milk, sometimes ruffling up the hair she had fought with to tame.

The redhead was presently scrambling the cracked eggs she was cooking for herself in a pan, the spatula pushing them at an unrushed pace. She set it aside on a napkin and put her full attention on dicing the mushrooms that were going in, each slice of the knife precise. Having her fingers cut off because of some careless move wasn't what she was going for.

Flaky had insisted that the teen eat what she was cooking, and after she had persisted him, he gave her his deadpanned answer. "If I want breakfast, I'll make it myself. You don't have to baby me, I know how to handle a pan without burning my hand."

After she had taken the hint, she receded back into the kitchen and asked the air how he managed to make her look like the one who was being irritating. He was moody, but who wouldn't be if they were residing in a house whose owner, they assumed, was nice to them out of pity?

Lifty stirred his spoon in the bowl of Cheerios and groaned softly, pushing it along with the place mat out in front of him. He lowered his head, the legs of the dining room chair screeching against the hardwood flooring, until his forehead rested on the table top. His eyes were glazed over in full boredom at there being nothing to entertain him in the room.

It was one of those days where there was naught a thing to do. Yes, that kind of day. Where all the groceries were brought and in the fridge, the shows playing on the television were reruns of old comedies like I Love Lucy, and the clock doesn't seem to be working, its hands pointing at the exact number they had pointed to the last time you looked at it.

What made it worse was the lack of air conditioning coming from the vents around her house. Flaky said that they needed to "cut down on energy" and "save the planet". Saving the planet his ass, what about saving him from heat stroke?! A person's life was better than some round mound of dirt - no matter how many times he could come back, he didn't fancy the idea of dying in such high temperatures.

It might have helped if he'd taken off his mask so he wouldn't be sweating from his face, she had brought up the accessory, and maybe then he wouldn't be as hot as he claimed to be. The nerve of some people, they could be so insensitive at times. Taking off his mask was like . . like . . removing an appendage that's been connected to you your entire life.

Forget it, he would bear through the heat instead of taking off the mask.

Breathing heavily through his nose, he allowed his arms to swing down from the table lazily. Lifty, succumbing to the heat, thought of how the female would react if he filled up the tub and jumped into it—

_Ding! Ding dong!_

The doorbell chimes sounded, causing him to perk up and relief fill him at the intrusion; it was something to get his mind off of the sweat that was gathering on his back!

"I got it, keep doing whatever you're doing," Lifty said and walked to the door, wiping his sweaty hand on the wall before he unlocked it. Pushing the handle down, he opened it and, it was a reaction to anyone new, glowered at the girl behind the metal screen.

Through the holes that the screen let light through, the lavender hair, tied in a side ponytail, stood out significantly and clashed against the slimming, pure white, track suit. The sweater was zipped up to the nape of her collarbone and the sweat pants ended when they met the laces of her running shoes as if it were the coldest day of the year. Did she not feel the basking rays of the sun and the stillness of the day?

Her slender face, which had just been cheerful and upturned in a smile, was passed over with a look of disgust. Eyes running up and down what she could see of him, her lips quirked into a distasteful frown as she returned the glower for a moment. He looked shabby, unfit to be acquainted with her friend, let alone be answering her door like it was his house.

Then, like that, she snapped out of her "You don't look good enough so I'm going to examine and be judgmental to you" mode, flashing her pearly whites at him in a friendly smile. The way her jaw was locked and her fist kept securely at her side told him that she was going to be anything but friendly, though. Her smile was actually making him uneasy, it was so . . fake and the stoniness that her eyes held . .

He wondered how fast he could slam the door on her before she broke down the screen and hurt him.

By now it had passed the two minute mark where they had just been staring at each other, Lifty's hand itching to push the door closed and go back to being bored, and Lammy's judging stare concentrated on him. The rise and fall of her chest was her only movement, smile becoming strained and her fists uncurling, one playing with the zipper of her sweater.

"Uh," Lammy waved at him and looked over his shoulder into what she could see of the living room. "I didn't expect Flaky to have guests today, who are you?"

"Why do you care," responded Lifty, his body already leaning on the door.

She laughed hotly and narrowed her eyes at him. By the tone of his voice, he wasn't going to waste much time speaking to her, so she had to spill what she wanted to say before he blocked her out. "Is Flaky here? Today was supposed to be our work out day and she never answered my calls. I just didn't know that she'd have . . _company _when I came."

Company, she would've said trash if she was talking to any other person besides him. Company described a friend or business partner who was over for a social visit, but from what she had heard from Petunia, who had heard from Handy, who was told by Flippy, Flaky had found herself a stray dog to take in. A mutt without a pedigree.

Knowing how dense Flaky could be when it came to future dangers and how good hearted she was, Lammy had braced herself for whatever vermin she had brought into her house . . but a boy who looked like he didn't care about his appearance or how he greeted her friends, it was unexpected. Especially when this boy couldn't keep his unimpressed look from showing.

"Yeah, she is, why you need her?"

_No, I'm just asking if she's here and telling you that today we were supposed to be doing something so I can leave her a package_, she sarcastically thought.

"Yes, can you get her for me, please?" She was so polite, acting like she wanted to be nice to a boy who was completely dissing her.

He didn't say yes, and he didn't say no, he merely shut the door on her, walked to the couch, and dropped back onto it. He picked up a magazine that he had been flipping through the night before, neglecting her request to see Flaky.

"Lifty? W-who was it?" she joined him on a different couch, eating a plate of scrambled eggs.

"Nobody," his reply was nonchalant. "Just some little brat asking if you wanted to buy her Girl Scout cookies, I told her you didn't. I can be helpful when I want to~"

"Oh . . as long as you said it nicely t-then thank you—"

_Knock, knock, knock!_

The rapping was angry and growing evermore constant, Flaky blinking, glancing once at Lifty, and putting her plate on the coffee table to go answer the door. And when she did, she understood what had happened, and why she shouldn't have expected her new friend to do anything that he wouldn't get a kick out of.

Lammy pinched the bridge of her nose and hissed, "He didn't tell you it was me, did he."

Shrugging, not wanting the blame to be put on him, she smiled shyly and hid her face behind the door. "Maybe h-he thought you were a b-burglar?"

"That's likely, I should've just made him open the screen for me and I'd talk to you myself," stepping past the redhead when she opened the screen for her, she shot an icy glare towards the couch where a certain troublemaker was sitting. She gaped when, as a response, she got a finger that would make any room for of elderly people sputter in disbelief.

"You haven't taught it any respect, have you?" The French girl was fully aware what she had called him, growing satisfaction when he glared at her, an instant hate bubbling between them. He noticed that he was having that effect on people he met nowadays. "I think it's nice that you got yourself an orphan, maybe you'll be able to teach him the difference between what's wrong and what's right."

"H-he's not an orphan . . and he can be good when he wants to b-be . ." steering the conversation back to where it hadn't originally started at, she opened the hallway closet and pulled two yoga mats out. "T-this is why you came? Sorry about not telling you about this . . b-but I've been busy and . ."

Lammy plucked one mat from her and smiled at the apology. "As long as we can hang out right now," –she really did hope that the twin would be sent out for the time being so they could catch up on their girl time— "then I guess I can forgive you, but we're gonna have to work extra hard today. I'm thinking of joining the school cheerleading team and I heard that they won't let you join if you can't put your leg past your head, at the very _ least_!"

"P-past your head? Mm . . Giggles and Petunia are on the team . . so maybe they can put in a g-good word for us?"

"Yeah but we'd still have to practice and—!" The rest was garbled words that made no sense to any male at all. Lip stick, nail polish, cheerleading, bah, all girl crap that he'd have to suffer to hear about unless he wanted to be outside in the sun.

Lifty rolled his eyes and fell backwards again, dropping the magazine over his face in hopes of blocking out any light along with their talking.

xXx

"And then you stretch down really far, come on ladies, you can do it! Get flexible and touch those toes! You can do it!" The motivation was coming from a woman clad in nothing but tight yoga pants and a sports bra on the television set in her living room. It was a video that her French friend had found after going through her movie cabinets, searching for "just the right thing to get us nice and tone" and finding the tape with an overly happy looking woman on the box cover.

Excited that they were finally going to be getting training from a professional, though it was just in aerobics instead of cardiac exercises, Lammy had rushed to the TV and pushed it into the video slot, stealing the remote from atop the twin's stomach where it had been residing and turning on the set. And after laying their mats on the floor and doing some minor stretches, they deemed that they were ready for the real challenge and pressed start.

Now, forty minutes after they had begun, the two girls were beet red and past what their bodies were able to handle. Their legs and arms were shaking as they proceeded to do the simple stretch, sweat dribbling down their necks and mouths open in dog pants.

The video had started off with easy stretches, like the butterfly and fencing stretches, but it had slowly started getting harder. A few of these stretches they didn't even know existed, like trying to press your ear to your ankle, or holding yourself up above the ground using one hand when you were sitting cross-legged, and one of the craziest was lying flat on your back and bringing your legs down, knees touching chest, head nestled between calves, and toes pressed on the floor.

Most of them ended with the two tumbling into each other or catching themselves on the furniture while the tutor would demonstrate them perfectly. It wasn't right for a human's body to bend that way!

During their conditioning, they liked to call it that considering how they felt they had gone through as much working out as Flippy would perform each morning, Lifty had seated himself in front of an open vent that was letting out cool air. He had gotten too hot and with Flaky distracted . . the thermostat was pleading with him to switch it on.

The girls hadn't said anything about it, perhaps they hadn't felt the room cool down due to the waves of body heat they were exerting, but he certainly had felt the difference.

He had watched them for a time, noticing with a fuzzy feeling in the pit of his stomach how the tights that his hostess was wearing underneath a pair of spandex shorts hugged her shapely legs and the loose tank top that showed her black sports bra at times. That was a stupid thing, didn't she know it; to be stretching in the same room as a man who could let his eyes drift anywhere they wanted to.

She didn't know that, but her friend did, no doubt about it. The violet top would look back at him anytime her stretches permitted her, and if she caught his eyes wandering where they pleased, she'd clench her teeth, a burning hellfire in the depths of her angered orbs. Once she had made a cutting motion to him, using her finger and dragging it in assorted lines across her face and down her neck, smiling when she got him to look away.

Disturbed, nah, she was just trying to keep her friend's innocence away from the boy she already couldn't trust.

"Suck in your stomach girls! Feel the burn in your core and you'll know it's working!" the lady had her face pressed against her knees already while Flaky was struggling to pull herself to her legs without toppling over. "You can feel it in the back of your legs and thigghhss! Don't give up! Keep on stretching! This is a great way to get your buttocks firm, by the way. Who wouldn't want a firm booty?! Am I right or am I right!?"

Panting heavily and feeling like she was about to pass out, Flaky let go of her toes and dropped to her knees. Her face burned like it had just been shoved into an open stove and left there for an hour, while her heart was on the verge of bursting out of her chest. She had the resilience to muscle through most physical activities, but she was confident that if any man who worked out daily, take Splendid for example, would be brought to a gasping heap if they went through the video.

"I-I don't think I c-can do the rest," she breathily said. Her hand trembled as she twisted the cap off of her water bottle, a little amount of it splashing down its sides as she brought it to her lips.

Lammy had told her beforehand that they were going to finish the entire hour long video, but now she was beyond exhausted and couldn't care less about being on the cheerleading squad until she got an hours nap. She nodded in agreement and pressed paused on the remote, putting her arms on her head and breathing in dryly. "Y-yeah, you're right. I think we bit off more than we could chew. That was harder than it looked!"

Lifty, once again, rolled his eyes and turned the page to the magazine he had read five times over when he was trying to look like he wasn't staring at the stretching redhead. They were exasperating, girls always took the truths to some far off place when they wanted to be dramatic and acting like they had ran a marathon. But, deciding that now would be a perfect time to tease the timid girl, he said, "Aww, why'd you stop? It seemed like you were having fun, and I had a really good view from over here~"

And he accused Splendid of being a pervert.

Before her friend could turn redder than she already was, Lammy distracted her by asking if she had any water.

"Wha—? E-er . . yeah I d-do in the fridge . . Did you want me to get you one?" asked Flaky.

"No," the Frenchie smiled kindly and threw her friends ponytail away from her shoulders so her dampened neck would get the chilled down air as well. "It's okay, I know where they are now, but thanks anyways. Just sit here and relax, you deserved it!" Her back turned to the dandruff infested girl as she walked past Lifty and into the kitchen, she scowled.

This twin was really starting to get on her nerves. From slamming the door in her face and disregarding that she had ever been there, to ruining the time where it was only girls only with his peeping eyes and little comments, he was already on her bad side.

But, now that she thought about it, what boy who she suddenly found taking residence in the same house as her friend wouldn't be?

Grabbing a water from the fridge and strolling back out, she casually stopped by the thief, taking a short sip of the refreshing fluid. She laughed smugly when he leaned away from her, finding her presence quite disturbing after the visual threats she had given him, and spoke like she would if she was talking to an old friend. "Ha, Lifty, I know that Flaky let you in here out of the kindness of her heart, but don't take that for granted."

". . Whatever." He was close to making a gagging motion to her back as she left his side, but stopped when she whispered out coldly,

"Because if you do, I'll come and break all of your limbs. Flaky is near and dear to me, so don't think that you'll be able to get away with anything without me finding you." She paused, then added, "Also, keep your eyes off of her butt, unless you want to lose them."

Unless he wanted to lose them?

. . .

He wasn't one to get scared by anything, but her threat had been said in all seriousness, and that was enough to make him shudder and remind himself not to stare at the girl's bottom.

Plopping down on the couch and drinking her water, the violet eyed female grew an idea that was for her amusement and her amusement alone. And if anything went wrong, she wouldn't be the one who was affected by it. "Flaky, you know what Lifty just told me right now?" She suppressed her laughter when she saw the twin snap his head up at the mention of his name, eyes burning into her.

"W-what?"

She spun the bottle cap on the table in front of her, the smirk that she purposefully hid by facing the ground growing as she said, "He told me that he wanted to do some stretches with us; you probably didn't notice, but he was staring at you stretching the whole forty minutes; he obviously wants to join in, don't you think?"

Muttering what the hell and about to speak up to say that it was lies, he heard Flaky say through soft giggles that he might enjoy it. Stretching was for girls and gay pansies, he wouldn't find any sort of enjoyment out of it, especially since the girl who was out to get his eyes had suggested it. "No way in hell I will. You can't make me stretch for shit—"

"Come on! It'll be fun." Lammy had already gotten up and latched onto his arm, her steel grip restricting the blood from flowing into his arm and causing it to go numb in seconds. She looked at him, her eyes darkened ominously and her sweet smile turned impish. It was time to play the game . . of . . "Stretching!" And before he could protest further, she had shoved him to and down on a yoga mat.

"I don't want to stretch," he sounded far more than just annoyed, having to tell her it a second time. "I never said I wanted to, so just get off it and—" His breath hitched forward, the immense pain that was shot through his lower regions to his entire body before settling in his abdomen interrupting him.

Flaky gasped at the new pain and discomfort on his face. "Oh!"

While he had been trying to tell Lammy off for assuming that he wanted to do some lame stretches, she had dropped herself onto the ground across from him. The smile stuck on her face when she leaned over and grabbed both of his wrists in her strong grasp, her nails cutting into the veins that lay beneath the protective skin.

The feeling of being overstretched before he was ready for it was shadowed, changing to feel like nothing compared to when instead of spreading her legs to match his, soles of their shoes pressed against each other's, and she had put her plan into action. She thrust her foot in between the spaced out legs, a crazed smile distorting her features. Naturally, she hadn't held back on how much force she let her leg kick out on, so when it met with the region that males were to protect most . . well.

Lifty had cried out despite himself, his crotch being crushed by the heavy running shoes of the French girl – who was laughing openly, even if Flaky was there. "F-fuck!" Trying to pull his wrists out of her hands so he'd fall back against the floor, and avoid further pressure on the sensitive area, he was met with the realization that she wasn't going to let go of him. "You fucking bitch! L-let go—AHO!"

Tears pricked at his eyes as she flashed him with her wicked smile, throwing her head and body back and pulling his torso even closer to his leg. The closer he got to his leg, the further she moved back, the more force she'd apply to the foot that was squishing him. She didn't have mercy when she heard his pained groans or Flaky freaking out in the background, she was teaching him a lesson after all!

Aha! A lesson yeah!

The tip of her shoes dug into his stomach as he coughed, face scrunched in agony that could only be matched with—with . . with having your groin being run over by a monster truck.

"O-oh my God! Lammy! A-ah! Why does he look like that!?" Flaky was beyond panicking because even she knew that the lower region of a man was the most delicate part of them, and seeing her friend abusing him like that—it was scary. "L-let go! Stop it!"

Lammy opened both eyes, giddiness jumping in them, when she felt the thief reach his leg and touch the kneecap of it with his nose. Yes, his arms were being wrenched out of their sockets, his bottom was raised off of the ground, and he wouldn't be able to sit properly for a week, but he had done it, and that satisfied her for the moment.

"Alright, if you insist Flaky!" She released his wrists, nail marks encircling them, and let him drop back with a loud thump as his head hit the ground.

Now with a headache and the urge to vomit up the cereal he had eaten an hour before, Lifty's eyes stung as he hacked once more, curling up in a moaning mess of a ball. He would have flung every curse word he knew at the smug girl, but frankly, he thought he would wretch over the carpet if he opened his mouth.

Flaky bent down over him, stroking his arm soothingly and staring at her violet haired friend who was having a fit of laughter. ". . H-heh . ."

**xXx**

**So, um, this happened XD Lammy is so mean to Lifty, so many people are lol :3 And this came out as long as I wanted it to be! Don't really have anything to say expect—I GOTZ TO PEE. And my mom is being scary D:**


	8. Chien

**Warning: This is mostly dialogue :P**

**xXx**

"So," Petunia put down the pillow that she had been embroidering—for the sixth time after undoing the thread because it wasn't perfect. "Is it true?" Her eyes were fixed in Flaky, the redhead warily looking up from her own pillow, the design in it far from being anywhere near as nice as Petunia's.

Nearly a three days had passed since Lammy had had her little fun time, and they had agreed on having a girl's gathering, four this time instead of two. These gatherings were a normal part if their schedules, where they would talk, more like gossip, about what was occurring around the town. The three, more feminine girls, would have a ball discussing and learning about the other's life, but learning about each other's relationships was where the conversations usually headed.

Something about finding out how Cuddles refused to share any of the movies from his special stash with his girlfriend, or Truffles' constant annoyance when his hand was held was fascinating to learn. It wasn't as if they were sticking their unwanted noses in private business, it was being spread around for only their ears to hear.

The topic had previously been about Giggles gushing over how a certain blonde had bought a necklace that went with a bag she had, when Petunia had recalled what Handy had shared with her days ago. Now, she was patiently awaiting an answer, Flaky flushing as the attention was put on her.

"I-is what true?" Flaky asked. She absently picked at the thread, loosening them even further.

"Don't act like you don't know," Petunia set her pillow aside, scooting her chair closer to the rocking chair Flaky was occupying. "You know, the _thing?"_

"What . . . What t-thing?"

Giggles leaned in, forgetting her uninteresting piece of news and planning to put her prying skills to the test. "We heard that you got yourself a little friend!"

The needle fell from her shaking fingers and camouflaged somewhere on the rug beneath her. Going down on her knees, moving her hand around to feel the prick of it, she thought of how she'd answer it. Lifty certainly was a friend, but how they referred him as little, implication rolling off if their tongues, she wasn't sure what game they were playing at.

"H-how did you know that?" Inquired Flaky, knowing that she hadn't said a word about her guest to the two yet. But, Lammy could have always told them. Unsettled by her friends talking behind her back about what was going on in her house, she was unknowingly waiting for their answer.

"Oh, everyone knows it~" Giggles laughed in her hand then winked to her. "It's not exactly an infamous thing to hear that you have a boy in your house!~ come on Flaky, you're you!"

She was her; that could be a compliment, or an insult.

"You're just so innocent, I wouldn't have thought that you'd let a boy just, what are you letting him do? Live with you, or maybe you two are—" Petunia shoved her and laughed loudly, it suddenly sounding obnoxious to the not amused female.

"Giggles you're so bad! Why are you even thinking of Flaky doing that kind of thing?! She's a good girl, making her way through life and helping people—"

"—helping boys with their 'problems'~!" Wiping a fake tear away, she grabbed her best friend's hand and took on the look that you'd expect to see on a parent who just waved at their child; a child who was going away for college. "I remember back in freshman year when we made a pact to save our innocence til we were married, where has it gone!"

"Giggles stop it! You're too much, Flaky wouldn't do that and you know it!" Still, it was a fun idea to think about and alter here and there. "She hasn't even told us the whole story and you're already making assumptions!"

"Well I can't help it! Like you said, she hasn't told us anything! And I thought that we were her best girlfriends!" Pouting, she squished her face against Petunia's and whined out, "Or do you not love us enough to tell us everything? Has our good girl turned into a rebel? Have you gotten secret tattoos and joined a mile high club too?"

Petunia sighed at the girl's exaggeration of how far their friend was going. "Come on Giggles, be serious about this, stop trying to make Flaky look like some . . some . ."

"Some hoochie?" She offered through an outburst of giggles.

"I can think of a few better words, like some sort of girl who would just give away her body like it was nothi—. . Well, I guess hoochie explains it, but it just sounds so dirty."

They were implying that she was doing certain _things_ with him, right in front of her nonetheless! They seemed to have forgotten that they had dove into relationships years before she'd even thought of being interested in them. Relationships hadn't stricken her as important, but yet they continued to exclaim about things that she wasn't doing and assuming what went on in her house.

"That's because they are dirty, do you think they're gonna be clean when every night they're off with some new pervert?"

"I hope that they at least are using a good body wash then, it makes me shudder just thinking how many germs they'd have . . Flaky, are you using the body wash I gave you? It's the best to use after . . events."

Flaky bumped her head on the underside of the table, yelping when, along with that, she pricked her finger on the located needle.

Wiping the pearl of blood on the pillow that she wouldn't get around to finishing, she sucked on her finger, staying on the ground. If she let Petunia see that she had stabbed herself with a pin, the blue haired female would insist on sanitizing it to prevent infection. And she knew how it felt to have a wound slathered with the disinfectant, she wasn't up to feeling the burning.

"A-are you a-asking if I'm using it a-after . . !?" It was okay to hear about her friend's experiences, but having hers pried into, it was an awkward feeling that she wanted to avoid.

Giggles ducked and looked under the table, smiling smugly. "It was just a question, why is your face all red? Aw, Flaky, you really have to tell us what it was like! Was it bad bad or good bad? Gentle? Rough? Crazy? We need to know these details!"

Going back to her embroidering, Petunia commented offhandedly, "I'm just asking because I wouldn't want you to be a sweaty mess afterwards. You know, you could get ringworm if you didn't wash it off properly, just to inform you about that."

"What?! W-w-what do you mean sweaty m-mess!?"

"And you are taking a pill, I presume," Petunia looked away from her pillow, tugging the thread and tightening it. "How long ago did you go to the doctor's? Last time you had tests run on both of you, you can't be too safe. Has he had any sexual activities with other women before?"

The redhead gaped at how easy it was for then to ask her these questions straight out. She hardly had the courage to venture through those thoughts without growing red in the face, but they discussed it like the weather.

"Y-you two have it a-all wrong! Lifty and I a-aren't doing any—"

At the name, the two girls stopped their teasing and questions, resigning to stare at her with mouths agape. They held the same look of disdain and sudden concern.

"W-what?"

Petunia, making a popping with her lips, changed her stare back to the intricate floral design she was sewing. "It's nothing, but I think that we misunderstood you. Did you, hm, say Lifty, by any chance? As in the boy who is always taking our stuff?"

This conversation had taken a turn for the worse, her stiffened tone empty of all humor it had held. "Yes, w-why?"

"Are you crazy!?" exclaimed Giggles. She tapped on the top of Flaky's skull three times. "Earth to Flaky, Earth to Flaky! Are you out of your mind, what were you thinking of when you let that thing into your house?! I know, you're thinking that I might be crazy myself, asking you all those questions and everything, but when I had asked them I hadn't expected this mystery man to be Lifty! Do you want to get your whole house robbed?!"

Flattening out the pillow cover, Petunia went on, though in a less excited voice than Giggles. "I have to agree with Giggles. You know I'm one hundred percent behind you on whatever you want to do with your life, I can't change your opinions on things, but—why did it have to be him? I think that Flippy is much more . . suited for you, not some — thief? No, that's rude, even if he is one. Conman, maybe?"

"You've seen how crooked those two can be! They even took my signed magazine, and it was signed by all five members of Single Way! I loved that magazine, they all looked so hot in it" —Giggles cried softly, missing the posters of the boy band it had contained— "and I bet they sold it to some other girl!"

Gulping and muttering that Shifty and Lifty had taken the girl's prized item, she didn't throw it away, what, the bluenette could only thump herself for thinking that it was Mime or some other boy who was residing with her. After all, Lammy had said that when she knocked on the door, a scrungy looking dog had answered it and barked at her.

"How do you know that he and his brother aren't messing with you? What if at this instant, while you're away from the house, they're taking everything valuable that you own? Haven't you thought of what would happen if that was the case?"

"Lifty w-wouldn't do that . . ! He's too nice under a-all the meanness." She spoke fondly of him, even if the short period they had known one another wasn't long, she didn't buy the whole bad guy charade he had. He just needed a push and gentle motivation, or was she kidding herself when she said in the mirror that he could change. He hadn't showed any signs that he was improving his people skills, nor that he wanted anything to do with being nice.

"I do adore how you have that trait that sees good in everyone, Flaky . . but there are just people who play the roles of the bad guys, and I personally don't think that it's safe for you to continue housing him anymore." Finishing the last petal she had been working on, the neatness enforcer set the pillow down and smoothed it free of its creases one last time.

Smiling a bit, Petunia faintly mused, "Why does this remind me of the story the Princess and the Pauper?"

"How can this remind you of that!?" not understanding the connection, Giggles huffed. "That's a story full of cuteness and happy endings. This would be more like Beauty and the Beast; the way Lammy described him, he's a real jerk."

Flaky frowned lightly and gave up trying to fix her pillow, it was too far along to be redone anyways, throwing onto the table. She loved Lammy, she did, but her talking about Lifty in such a rude manner, it wasn't making her pleased. If it became a bigger problem, she'd have to ask the Frenchie to stop, and she who knew what problems that could stir up.

"Speaking of Lammy, the reason she isn't here, is, 'Mr. Pickles'" —she still didn't believe a word about the fake man the girl would always bring up, what rubbish— "had to get a new overcoat, but she stopped by beforehand, Flaky. She said she wanted you to give something to your friend, something she made."

Getting up and saying she had to leave to check on Lifty — who she had Splendid babysit, so she had no worries about him doing anything to her things — Flaky paused at the idea of the violet top giving anything to him. They hadn't hit it off; that was certain, so there was no reason for her to give him a gift. You usually didn't make your enemy a present. . . .

"That was n-nice of her, I t-think; she didn't hit it o-off with Lifty like I thought she would."

Petunia got up and opened a pristine cabinet, each item in it having its own compartment, before taking out a box wrapped in yellow paper and topped off with a bow. She handed it to Flaky and shrugged. "Maybe this is her way of apologizing for that then?"

Taking it, she held the parcel snugly in her arms and decided that probably was Lammy's motive. "I-I'll make sure to thank her later t-then. Thanks for having me over, Petunia."

"And remember that we're meeting next week, too! You always have to make time for the girls, no matter what!"

Flaky nodded, walking to the door, her hand on the handle when both girls warned from the table,

"Don't turn your back to him, Flaky, you don't know what kind of tricks he could pull. He's a double crosser by nature and you know it. We don't want you to get hurt . ."

"Yeah! So just be cautious, okay? I don't want to have to pull my purse bag out and have to break its strap because I'll be hitting him too hard."

Laugh audible but unsure, Flaky bade her goodbyes and left the house, sliding into her car and putting the gift on the passenger's seat. Double crosser, no, he wasn't going to hurt her in any way, and she trusted that with all her being.

As she started the car, she glanced to the present and tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. She knew that Lammy was one to hold a grudge, there was no way that she had made a gift for the twin to be friendly. If she could take a peek at what it was, she wouldn't be as curious.

Her conscience said it was wrong, but her fingers had already pulled the ends of the bow and thrown it to the side uselessly. Nibbling her lip, she grabbed the top and lifted it off, surprised when she saw another embroidered pillow.

She must have been the only girl who didn't have a knack for designing using a pin and needle.

Raising her eyebrow, Flaky grabbed the pillow and raised it up into the lighting, squinting to read what was engraved in it.

_For, Chien, A.K.A __Dog. With love, Lammy._

That, and a detailed green dog, the stitches precise enough to see how scraggly the fur was, with an actual needle stabbed in its head.

**xXx**

**My turn! *kidnaps Crystal in a sack and beats it with a baseball bat* I HOPE YOU SUFFER! *hits it again* Ehem, anyways xD I am probably going to be working on this story more than my others since I want to finish it so I can start a ShiftyxFlaky story I have planned! Heh, yeah.**


	9. Abandonment?

"C-can you eat just a little bit? Lifty, all I've seen you e-eat is frozen meals and prepackaged snacks, you need real food." Flaky persisted, holding the spoon of oatmeal to his sealed lips. She tried forcing through them, but his growls would stop her.

"Just o-open your mouth." As she pulled back the utensil and pushed it to him again, he moved his head so it bluntly hit his jaw. Flaky frowned and straightened up. "Okay, now you're acting like a-a little kid. It's not going to hurt you to eat it."

"You could've poisoned it, I wouldn't know," Lifty retorted, flicking off the white mush. "I don't like oatmeal, it tastes like I'm eating sand. Lumpy sand."

"It's packed full of nutritious things though," none of these so called nutritious things came to mind, and she wasn't positive that the breakfast item even had nutritious value. "Open your mouth, it's g-going to be good for you."

"Nah," defiantly, he turned away and pushed the spoon back. "I'm not eating it."

"Lifty," Flaky pouted and led it to his lips, hitting against the barricade softly. "Open. Q-quit being stubborn and just eat t-the food." Turning her position and going on her knees, she put her hand between her thighs and raised herself above the couch, concentration leaking into her expression. "Here c-comes the train, woot woot, the food express is on its way, but Lifty won't open h-his mouth so how is the train supposed to—"

"That's the stupidest thing you've said, quit it." Lifty restrained the urge to fling the oatmeal across the room. "Why don't you eat it?"

She had gone over it before, she had eaten already and had her daily dose of mush, she wasn't about to eat his too. "Because, t-this is yours, not mine."

"Then I guess it's gonna go to waste~"

Well . . there was one thing she could try, but it would be risky, could also possibly end with his front teeth being chipped. If she timed it right while he was talking, she could lean over and jab the spoon in his open mouth. Downside, he'd might have a dentist appointment to see what they could do about his teeth, upside, he'd eat his oatmeal.

"B-but Lifty," she bit her lip and looked at him from under her long, naturally curved eyelashes. "I made it for y-you . ."

Was the look cute? Sure, why not, but was he going to fall for it? There wasn't a chance in the world he was that gullible. "Ha, nice try, little girl." He picked up a pillow, about to cover her face and the 'Pwease?' look. "But I'm not stupi—Kah!"

Flaky had jumped at the chance, placing her hand on his inner thigh and giving herself leverage, then sticking the spoon into his mouth. She had plunged it in far enough so it hit the back of his throat, triggering his gag reflex and adding to the shock that her hand had created.

"Aha!" she smiled as he jerked his head back. "N-now you know that oatmeal isn't that—" Shutting her eyes, she squeaked when he coughed, sending flying flecks of the mush to stick on her face and in her hair. His coughing lasted another minute, in which Flaky sat statue still, mouth twisted in disgust at the prospect of having to wipe off the saliva covered food.

"Thanks so fucking much, I love choking on prison food, why don't you hire someone to shove a spoon down my damn throat while you're at it," sarcasm thick, each word soaking in it, Lifty intended to be in a grouchy mood because of her, but seeing her shut eyes and lips mouthing words of revulsion, he couldn't suppress a smirk. And a chuckle. "Are you happy with what you did?~"

Flaky looked to him and whimpered, taking her small fist and punching his arm harmlessly. "Y-You're so—! . . Gross."

He was going to retort to that, but a knock at the door sounded. Tensing, he bumped his head towards it, telling whose turn it was to answer.

"You're too l-lazy," Flaky grumbled, getting off the couch and stepping to the door, "I should m-make you go r-running every day . ." Door opening, she smiled a little friendlier than normal and immediately opened the screen. "H-hey, Flips, I haven't seen you for—"

"—over a week," Flippy finished, glowering behind his humorous tone and expression when he thought of why that was. "I almost thought you disappeared, was getting worried about you, but you're here so!"

"Yeah, I've j-just been occupied with . . . stuff," she shrugged and curled a finger through her hair. She didn't want to go in depth about what she had done every day, hour to hour, for the past week like she knew he wanted her to do. He would find out eventually, anyways, from friends with too big of mouths. She looked back and saw Lifty's arms thrown over the couch, eyes trained on the veteran in a heated stare.

"Yeah . . so," Flippy beckoned her onto the porch and shut the door behind her. "How has what's his face—"

"Lifty."

"—yuh huh, Lifty, how's he been doing? He hasn't been giving you any problems right? Because I heard Lammy going on and saying he was the most untamed, indecent, scoundrel she had ever met . . ? Does that ring a bell?" Lammy really had a gossiper's mouth, almost as bad as Giggles', even Flippy had managed to hear it from her-and they hardly briefed together. If this continued, the entire town would have an opinion on the thief based on a half told story, and they wouldn't be talking good about him.

"You shouldn't believe everything that Lammy says," said Flaky, trying to understand in what way Lifty's attitude was any of her business. "A-and why are you listening to gossip? Lifty is none of those things, I d-don't know why people think of him like that . . He's not a bad g-guy if you got to know him . ."

"Oh yeah? And what do you know about him?" He countered.

"Well I know that . ." It hit her: she knew next to nothing about the twin, besides who he was reputation wise and the one person in his blood line, and she still claimed that he wasn't bad at all when she was as clueless as the others. But that wasn't it, she did know a few things about him . .

"I know that he d-doesn't like new people very much, he likes being solitary, a-and . ." She giggled, interrupting what she was going to say when Flippy wiped the oatmeal from her face, and with no thought on where it had been, put it in his mouth; in his perspective, it had touched Flaky's skin, so it _must_ be okay to eat! "He doesn't like oatmeal."

Flippy looked at her strangely. "Mm?"

"He doesn't like oatmeal. U-um, he coughed that on me, Flippy. It was in his mouth already." Her giggles grew as, repulsed, Flippy turned and spat out the softened oats onto her plants. He groaned about getting rabies and wiped his tongue so fierce with his sweater that he'd find out he couldn't taste anything for lunch that day.

"Blah, bah!" he spat again, nose wrinkling. "That was-I really do hope he brushes his teeth."

"I . . think he does." That was something to ponder on, seeing how she hadn't given him a toothbrush. But every morning, his breath smelled minty fresh and there wasn't a stain on his flashing teeth, so how was it that . . . Flaky was placed a finger on her lips and began suspecting why it was that her toothbrush was wet every morning before she was awake, surely it would've dried overnight.

Breaking her from her thoughts that wanted to interrogate Lifty and find out if he used her toothbrush, Flippy said, "Great, well maybe he can brush them really good while we're out today."

"What? We're going o-out today?" Why wasn't she informed of this?

"Yup! The fair's just around the corner, so I thought it'd be fun for just us two to hang out together, like the old times when . . ." When they were closer, no rotten jobs or thieves to get in the way of their friendship.

"I would love to go," even if it was short notice, and he basically made plans for them without giving her a heads up, "but Lifty has to g-go too."

"For what? This was supposed to be our fun time," maybe he was being greedy, but so what, "why does he have to go?"

"Because I s-said he's going to," said Flaky flatly, turning Flippy's arguments into nothing as he accepted the fact that the twin was going with them whether he wanted or not. "It'll give u-us a time to bond, and I think . . that maybe you'll both like each other b-by the end of the day . ." She poked her fingers together solemnly. "And, if y-you like him and you two are f-friends . . people might warm up to him too . ."

He could always give a denial to her and say he couldn't attend with them, or he could bare through it and spend what time he could with her. "I guess that he could come" —he rubbed his neck— "but if he gets snappy, I won't hesitate to give him a good punch." He smiled, imagining pushing the twin's head into the open cotton candy bowl to be wrapped in the sugary webs.

"O-ooh!" Flaky squealed, glad that the two boys in her life would be hanging out. "T-thank you so much Flippy! We're going to have so much fun, and you'll s-see how kind he can be! I-I promise you won't regret d-doing this! I'll go tell him right now!" And she turned, traipsing inside and simply closing the screen door.

The only thing he heard, and it already struck his annoyance, was an exaggerated groan and, "Why do I have to go? I don't like his face, it bugs, so why do you want me to look at it all day now?"

**xXx**

If there was one place, the one place that was more wretched than any friend's house or a business, it was the golly, crowded fairgrounds. The air smelled of sugared treats and cotton candy, greasy foods that clogged up any person who ate its arteries and popcorn drenched in butter, cheap pizzas and hotdogs that flies swarmed on; all combined to make the tight packed arrangement of tents and booths. The fair was there for citizens to come and enjoy the poorly crafted rides, thinking that they would be safe because the seats had safety bars. With its overpriced tickets and stuffed prizes that would fall apart at the seam, it was a boring Friday afternoon's perception of fun.

He could've been sprawled on the couch, his napping station, instead of seated on a stool that was too tall for the table, memorizing the faces of every passing person while his hostess spoke idly to the goody two shoes douche bag who had invited them. Let him correct that, who had invited Flaky, and sent a look of despise at the thief when he was dragged out with her, the thief muttering, "Well hello to you too, Mr. Sunshine." But no, he had to come and 'bond', Flaky had called it, with the veteran, because nobody likes a person who's antisocial.

But they weren't doing bonding of any sort—the two males weren't, anyways. Lifty had turned to the table again, elbows placed on the surface rudely, and staring through half lidded eyes at a pizza worker sneakily picking a slice of peperoni of a customer's order and eating it. His lips were latched onto a bendable straw as he barely registered the sound of empty air being sucked into it, too invested in counting how many slices the worker was eating in secret.

Flippy, on the other hand, was radiating with the pleasure of having Flaky's full attention on him, talking about books he had read and documentaries he had seen in the past week where they hadn't had connection, asking if she could dog sit for him in a few days because he had the late shift, having to count the inventory of books the library had, and eagerly wanting to know every last detail of her day. With questions like, "And when you woke up, did you hear the birds?" and, "Did you see that new silent movie that Mime's been putting fliers up about?" it was a wonder she hadn't lost the look of interest she had no trouble keeping.

Lifty's ears were just about bleeding with how happy and friendly the soldier's voice was when speaking to anyone but him, what he got was the sourness that someone would have if they had just bitten into a tart fruit. And when it was that occasion that he lost count of the slices and looked to Flippy, he would get a murderous stare in return before the cover up of fluffiness and good will hid it. What was up with everyone and their jealousness . . . it wasn't like he was openly groping the redhead or putting a ring on her finger.

Even if he had been doing either of those things, it wasn't fair that everyone gave him the cold shoulder—though he gladly gave it back, more times than none being the one who started the hate game.

Flaky, drawn out from their conversation by the dry sucking and rattling of ice cubes, became aware that he was still there, and staring quite bored at a fly that was buzzing around the trashcan. His pizza was untouched — he had found a hair in it. Though, he wasn't a clean freak, he had standards when it came to what conditions his food was prepared in — and he didn't seem like he would be jabbing it with a fork like he had been before. She frowned as Flippy continued on to forever about how his jeep now had TVs installed, taking her full cup and swapping its place with Lifty's.

She bent and poked the straw through his lips, nodding and saying "Uh huh" where she thought it was necessary, and as she succeeded in getting through his poorly blocked mouth, compared to earlier where he had cemented them together, his drinking went on. He hadn't paused during the switch, more asleep than awake due to the other male's eternally droning voice, so when the new, fizzy liquid had entered his mouth and quenched his thirst, it had resulted in him sputtering and choking—again.

Flaky patting his back, Lifty coughed into his elbow, Flippy still speaking, now, about one of Cuddles' soccer games he had gone to see Wednesday evening. . . .

"Cuddles is actually a really good player, have you seen his kicks? They're so strong and he's faster than Toothy, too. Not sure how many miles that kid could go if somebody recorded him, but anyways, it was an intense game. Next time you have to come and watch—"

"G-d damn, do you ever stop talking?" Lifty hissed through coughs. "You're like an overexcited kid who wants to tell their mom every damn thing that's happened in their boring life. Just shut up for an instance, will you? And thank you for noticing that I'm _choking_, it really means a lot to me, _friend_." He sneered, temporarily letting Flaky touch and wipe off the soda stains from his shirt.

"N-now Lifty . ." scolded Flaky. "Be nice . . Flippy paid for your admission so I don't think it's n-nice of you to be mean to him . ."

"Me mean to him—!?" he asked, outraged that the solider boy was being labeled as the good boy when he was the one causing the problems. "I'm not doing shit to him! Just look at his face, look at it." Glaring at the thinly veiled smugness, he was close to throwing the cup of soda at his smirking face. He was being annoying enough with his constant talk of the most boring topics ever, and now he was playing the innocent act. "Oho, I could just punch that stupid ass smirk off your damn fa—"

"LIFTY!" Flaky interjected, fishing a five dollar bill from her purse and stuffing it in his hands. Her voice was understanding, but firm as she said that it would be best if he went to go buy some cotton candy or ice cream. She pat his hand and smiled, voice soothing as she tried to lower his temper that had acted up around everyone he'd been introduced to. "I t-think you need to take a little walk . . cool down . . take a-all the time you need . . Please, Lifty . . you can't yell at e-every one of your problems . ."

But he could surely try to.

Stiffly gripping the money and standing, he glared at the forest green eyes that were alight and taunting him—the vet might have even stood up and laughed in his face if Flaky was elsewhere, not in the middle of them. Lifty muttered a fuck you before striding away and swiping a child's ice cream cone from their hands on his way to nowhere. He wouldn't be spending that money, ha, it was the least he deserved for putting up with Flippy's bullshit.

"That went well," Flippy sniggered and took the lid off of his abandoned soda, sipping from it and catching Flaky's stare, her lips firm. He smiled nervously, assuming that she wasn't pleased with the little show that had gone on right then, laughing out, "Lots of drama with that one, huh?"

"W-why are you, all of you, so against him?" she asked, voice turning hopeless. She wanted to help him . . . but nobody seemed to want to make an effort at getting along with him besides her. It was sad to see that every new opportunity to make a friend was pushed away when the twin opened his mouth. Others would say that it was because of the problems he started, but she believed that if he had a friend that wasn't her to talk to, he'd grow kinder, but since everyone was shunning and purposely not including him in anything, how was he supposed to feel warmness to them?

If anything, he'd had grown even more bitter than when it was just him and his brother. Together they had shared the hatred that everyone served to them in a dog bowl, so it wasn't as bad, because they knew how each other felt and that they were getting even amounts of the vileness. But alone, the spotlight was solely on him, and he had no one to give some of the weight to so they could share and burden it together. She would help him with it, but he was locking her out . . if everyone tried to help, they could pull the door open and show him the kindness he needed . .

"I-is it because of . ." Flaky was at a loss for words, staring at her balled hands and seeking an answer. "Am I not trying hard enough . . ?"

"Flaky," Flippy said, "you can't do a thing to change the path he's chosen. The sooner you accept that the better . . . maybe you should just" —she looked to him with eyes that asked to continue what he was going to say— "just, well, ditch him. He'd go back to his brother, right? Look, he's not here right now, so maybe we should just walk away, and if he shows up at your house again, tell him to leave you alone."

Flaky gaped, then closed her mouth and slumped in her seat. She wanted to help him, she wanted to get him to try harder and strive for leaving his thieving ways behind, but . . was ditching him the best solution? It wouldn't affect her life too much, and the guilt would subside some time or later, but could she bring herself to just walking away and leaving him at the fair without saying a thing?

"I . ."

"Stupid . . fucker . ." Lifty muttered, walking back from his lap from the pizza booth, to the last food stand, and back. His anger had slowly ebbed away as he thought of new names for the veteran, a way to vent out his frustration without punching a booth and getting escorted from the fair grounds. "It's all his fault, don't know why I'm the one getting blamed." Blamed for every last thing, it had always been that way. Things hadn't changed, even if his living order had, apparently the trait of being blamable hadn't left him.

His eyes drifted upwards from the trotted ground and his feet slowly drew to a stop, the stolen ice cream, melting in his hand already, falling to the ground. He felt the sickening jolt in his chest that he had whenever he used to lose sight of his brother during a heist, followed by it quickening as he scanned the tables. The twin kept a look that was unconcerned as his hands grew sweaty; he put them in his pockets and walked to the table where they had been seated at.

The soda, three quarters filled, was there along with the pizza that was nest to six or seven flies, but his hostess and the solider were gone. They hadn't left a note, just a stack of napkins, the ends fluttering in the light wind, under the soda. Their things were gone as well; they hadn't gone to the bathroom, intending to come back to gather their belongings. Even then, one of them would've stayed behind to watch them.

Searching the area as casually as he could, he frowned when he didn't catch a hair of them. The unfamiliar faces grew into a blur as he felt each of their stares on his face, rubbing his ears to get the fake whispering to go away. Lifty licked his drying lips, the heat in his cheeks growing until it felt as though someone had a magnifying glass and was directing the channeled sunlight to his face. His throat had turned parch again, but not from thirst.

From the sick realization that he was alone.

The tops of the heads were of random colors, but none were the red, or even the green, which he was looking for. They had been waiting for this chance, no wonder Flaky had said that he was going despite his groans, she had wanted him out of her hair, and with the war vet there to help her, she had done it. At first he hadn't believed the feeling that was sitting like a peach pit in his stomach, but there was no doubt now. And they hadn't the courtesy to tell him—he clenched the money in his pocket, her money, and began ripping it with his fingers.

Emerald eyes darkening, he went from the booth. First his own brother, and now the girl that he was beginning to trust. She lied, she had said there was good people in the world, and he had secretly believed her, how else would she be there? But now he knew that people, even the nicest and good willed of heart, were deceptive . . .—

"Lifty! H-hey Lifty! Over here!"

Lifty's eyes widened at the voice, stare turning to the waving girl, curls of red hair jumping with each wave, who had called him.

"Lifty!" Flaky called, smiling. "C-come on! We're waiting f-for you!" Next to her, Flippy was gazing at him apprehensively before he smiled, a true smile instead of the other forced ones he'd delivered. She said something to him that caused him to nod and walk on without her. The girl smiled more, beckoning him over.

When he had gotten over his uncertainty and strolled to her, he raised a brow and glared at her, saying gruffly, "I thought you left."

"W-why would you think that?" questioned Flaky innocently. "Didn't you see the note?"

Note? "What note?"

"Flippy scribbled on a napkin to meet us at the Ferris wheel a-and put it under soda . . you didn't see it?" That would explain why he had taken so long, making them turn around halfway there and find him looking around with a lost expression.

"No," he answered truthfully, scowling at how stupid he was. If he had just moved the damn cup, he wouldn't have been standing there like an idiot. He must have looked pathetic to other people, the fear of a child who didn't know where their parent was in his eyes.

"O-oh, but h-hey, we came back!" she piped. "I t-told Flippy to go save us a spot in line, don't worry, I made him promise that he'd b-be nicer to you. That is what you w-want?" At his shrug, she giggled and hooked her arm in his, tugging him along with little resistance. "But you be nicer, too! Okay?"

". . Okay," he sighed out, figuring he could keep his remarks back while around the veteran for the remainder of the day. Lifty stared down at the shorter female who smiled up at him, kindness in every feature of her round face, and wondered how he could've thought she had left. She wouldn't abandon him . . .

Yet.

**xXx**

**Alright! So this is the last filler chapter xD and also the halfway mark of this story! I have the next eight/nine chapters planned out, so hopefully I'll get this done sooner now :3**

***hugs Crystal from behind and breaths down her neck* you're all mine . . all **_**mine**_** . . *kills anyone who goes near her***


	10. The Dawning

_Now, so far it seems that Lifty is getting acquainted with and settling nicely, more or less, in his new living conditions. If you'd like to believe that after the previous chapter's events the younger twin learned how to behave and was content with staying Flaky's houseguest, or even more, then be my guest and stop reading this story. Call it an ending and click out, but it is my regret, pleasure filled regret, to say that is not the case. For who is being left out of the plot? Well, let's backtrack and remember who the cause of this story being born was. Who was the one who abandoned Lifty in the first place, leaving him with nothing but the clothes on his back?_

_Oh yes, you're recalling it, yes it was his flesh and blood; Shifty. But what was his reason for disowning his brother, the only family he had? Greed, want for a more efficient helper, and a clouded judgment are all correct answers, but there was one last important detail. What was it? Aha, the little robot that was promised to give him his most far-fetched wishes and shower him in stolen loot. _

_But you know what they say, be careful what you wish for._

"Y-you're not going to get away with this," Petunia stuttered, eyes focused anywhere but the metallic claw curled around her slender throat. "Splendid is going to come any second now, and you'll be sorry."

Shifty sat atop a counter and balanced one of the priceless vases precariously on his palm. His first choice would've been the town bank, but hitting up the artifact museum wasn't a bad idea. He could resell whatever he stole, and knowing that almost all of the displayed items were worth high cash, his profits would shoot through the roof. He'd be pocketing more money than he'd know what to do with.

"I wouldn't be expecting much help from that slip up," snickered Shifty. "He rarely stops me, and when he does, it takes a hell of a lot of time. You could be screaming the blue out of your hair for hours, and he'd be thinking that it's a yowling cat whose tail got stomped on. So go ahead and say what you'd like, but he ain't coming~"

Petunia tried to move as little as possible, for she had found out that if she struggled in any way, the claw would tighten and restrict her intake of air. Unwillingly, she looked again at the damage that had been done on the museum, her half hope that it would have cleaned itself and been restored to proper order deflating. It was ransacked, furniture such as benches and podiums vandalized, and glass from shattered displays dirtied the floor. There were times when she convulsed in tremors, her inner want to have every last thing in its place fighting her for dominance, and gagged when she could not breathe.

To keep her cleaning urges at bay, she would stare at the nakedness of the bare spots where framed pictures once hung, the amount of artifacts being hoisted into the back of the pick-up truck parked conveniently through a makeshift hole in the wall, and, she was most transfixed on this, the stout gizmo that was hauling the treasures.

"But he will," the clean freak argued. "He's going to come, and when he sees everything you've stolen, you'll be taught a lesson you'll never forget. He'll hear me."

"Aren't you a confident one?" Shifty stepped down, sharp eyes intimidating. He went to her and laced his fingers beneath her chin, smirking fully. "How are you so sure that he's not bitching to himself in the corner, crying about no one appreciating him. What if he doesn't want to assist you, it's not like you give him any sort of praise. If I were him, I would leave your sorriness to be helped by someone who could be bothered by your shrieking~" Satisfied that her eyes were narrowed at him, he bopped her nose lightly.

"You're a true joy aren't you, if your brother was anything like you, I wouldn't know how Fla—" she bit her tongue. It wouldn't be bright in a situation like this to bring up anything that involved his brother. She had finally put together two and two, and understood why her friend was hosting the younger twin.

Nobody had informed her about Shifty getting his dirty hands on a new toy; was it this toy that had put a sign of adoption on Lifty's forehead? She had assumed it to be the thieves' game that they were playing to befuddle the redhead, but if it wasn't a lie and he had been . . . disowned — what a terrible thing! — Then it was wise to not include him from her insults.

Her lips hadn't snapped shut fast enough, Shifty's face dawning in remembrance of his good for nothing sibling. He appeared to have forgotten of his existence already. "What was that? I didn't hear you, what about my loser twin?"

"Nothing," said Petunia. She had to lie, he was suspecting her reason for bringing up Lifty. "I was just going to ask . . . where's your, um, brother at? Doesn't he help you with these kinds of things, r-robbing and stealing?"

"Ah," he blew a hot breath on a turquoise painted egg, emeralds and finely cut jewels embedded in the golden band encompassing it, and rubbed it so it shone. "You're thinking of how it used to work. I ditched his stupid ass, I think it was over a week ago. His skills were getting rusty, so I didn't have use for him anymore~"

Scoffing, she turned her eyes on her shoes. "But he's your brother, how could you say that you didn't need him anymore? He's not a toy that you throw out when it breaks or you find it boring, he's your family, doesn't that mean anything?"

"Oh look, she wants to give a lecture along with being lippy," Shifty opened the egg's case and placed it inside with care. If he broke it that would be a million knocked off his final profits.

"I'm just having a hard time wrapping my brain around that." She was keeping him talking, because somewhere in the back of her mind she sensed he wouldn't let her go free after his heist was over. "It seems like it would take a lot of strength to be able to leave your brother to fend for himself."

"It really didn't." It sickened her how he had almost said it lovingly and without guilt as though it'd been a walk in the park to abandon the teen. "Why would I have any problem with getting rid of a pesky fly? Do you feel guilty when you wipe away germs? No, you don't, because they don't have a reason, they're there to annoy the shit out of you, and you couldn't care about them more than the trash you throw away~"

Petunia frowned at the harshness. If this was what Lifty had put up with for his whole life, it wasn't a surprise he was as mean as he came across to be. The analogy was twisted in itself, his brother comparing him to a bothersome fly along with trash—how messed up was their brotherly relationship?

"I can already imagine where he is right now," Shifty chuckled in bemusement at the imagined hell the thief was going through. "He's probably died already, and I'd love to see him trying to figure out what to do without me~ what an idiot—"

"He's doing fine without you for your information." She hadn't known what overcame and pushed her to defend him. Most likely guilt at her disapproving of Flaky housing him, unaware of her cause.

His snarky smile changed into the curious quirk he'd have when watching a mildly amusing TV show. "Oh really now? And how would you know such trivial information? You aren't stalking my brother, are you~?" It was around this time of the robbery where there was next to nothing left to take. Everything that was worth monetary value was in the pick-up truck's back.

"No! I-I've just seen him around town and—"

"With who? If he's not dead by now, and also not weak enough to just be sitting in one place, don't you think he'd been helped by someone~?" This mystery person had caught his interest, because there was no one he knew who'd be caught dead aiding the street dweller.

Petunia was silent. How was she to answer him and keep her friend's identity hidden . . . Unintelligible noises exiting her lips, she was not respondent. "I—who he was with—no one."

Coming back, Shifty drew his lips back over pointed teeth and pursued what he had to know. "You're hiding something, aren't you. You know something that you don't want to share~" He drew a rectangular controller from within his pocket, tisking. This hadn't been the road he wanted to take, though it didn't bother him in the least of ways, but because of her short answers and lack of compliance, well, it was the only path open.

Petunia's breaths began sounding huffy and scared, her hands coming up to wound around the contraption trapping her neck. She hooked her fingers onto the collar similar hook and pried. "W-what's happening? Knock it off!" The cold metal pressed snugly into her skin, shrinking a ring as Shifty toyed with the control more.

"Don't worry~" he cooed. "So who was it that Lifty is residing with~?"

"I-I," her stare darted anywhere but the cunning eyes. "I can't tell you that."

"You're going to be smart? In the position you're in? You must be screwing yourself."

The collar—It was far too tight. Petunia couldn't breathe right, chest expanding rapidly as fear was established in her. "I-I can't b-breathe! S-Shifty, stop!" He took his hands off the control so she could inhale and tell him what she knew, but the collar continued constricting of its own account.

"S-Shifty!" her voice heightened to a squeak, heel clacking the floor as she pounded her foot down. "O-okay I'll t-tell you! J-just—I'm telling y-you c-can't breathe, sto—!" Her whine turned choked, her heart pounding as the metal sunk into her skin and the inner walls of her throat tightened around her trachea. Spinal cord trapped, part of it being bent forward while the other half stood straight, it was another ring tightening before it was unable to withstand the pressure.

_Snap._

Shifty was used to seeing and hearing deaths all around him, but the swaying of her head to the side as her neck cracked earned his grimace. But he had stopped pressing down on the button that controlled the robot's arm, what had . . ?

"Fuck," he muttered. "Right when she was about to tell me, dammit. Splendid's going to kick my ass if he finds her body in here too." He climbed over the counter and set the control down, inspecting the bionic arm.

Neck emitting crunching sounds of broken bones mashing together under the weight of her head, Shifty poked at the choker in disgust. "What the . ." He turned and glared at the empty circles that acted as eyes for his helper. "Hey, did you do this?"

It was sullen, the white circles blank.

"Hey, M.A.C, I'm asking you something." Even if he hadn't heard a peep from the bot before, Sniffles was an over achiever and no doubt put a talking box somewhere. "M.A.C, do you hear me? If you do, I want you to retract your arm and get back to work. I'm going to take Petunia's body out back, M.A.C?"

He knew it, the voice command was junked up. Already the stupid thing had stopped working, probably why Sniffles had been so lenient while trading it.

"Stupid piece of crap," Shifty sighed out. He would have to leave the heavier artifacts now, the pricy ones, because he'd be unable to lift them by himself. "That's great, and now I have to deal with taking you to Sniffles. He's giving back that action figure for doing such a fucked up job on you."

He tapped on the hollow head of the gizmo, muttering over and again how it was as worthless as his brother. This would be a good time to break and throw it out, then the space for his new assistant would be open and maybe Lifty would redeem himself. "Alright, let's see what I can salvage from you." He could make a quick buck off the scrap metal; better than just throwing it to the curb.

Shifty opened its back and ogled at the red, black, and blue wires, complex appearing digits mixed with numbers — IE729I4 — and at the waves of electricity that traveled amongst aluminum coils. "Sniffles you are a fucking nerd . ." He scoffed and saw the simple power switch in the center of everything.

For a scientist, Sniffles did make things convenient and straight out.

"Heh," cracking his knuckles, he barely laid the tips of his fingers on the switch when a shock sent him jerking back and onto the ground. The skin above his nails was singed and blackened. "Dammit!" He put them in his mouth to cool the burn down and eyed the open back.

"You wanna do it the violent way? Have it your way, I'll get violent." Shifty growled. He got up and shifted through the stolen loot, picking up the bat he had threatened Petunia with. Glaring down at the silent robot, he said, "Junk. Why do I always get the things that are broken and useless." He raised the bat above his head, elbows by ears, and prepared for the wrecking.

The twin swung down and awaited the smashing of its head being bashed in. But instead, he was faced with the bat frozen in midair, his hands slipping from their grip at the abruptness. He had faintly considered the chance of Mime having put up an invisible wall, no matter that he hadn't been in the museum, but he blew off that idea.

His change of mind had come from the bionic hand firmly hooked on the bat's middle.

Shifty wasn't unnerved in the slightest why his helper had moved without a command, more angry that he was interrupted during his demolition time.

"Let. Go." Again, the little robot was unresponsive and refused to remove its tri-clawed hand. He fisted his hand and gave it one last warning. "If you don't let go, I'm going to fuck you up even more than I intended to."

Well, he had warned it.

He was confident of his punch . . . and he was more confident that the distinct cracking wasn't coming from M.A.C.

A flare of pain shot up his arm and Shifty recoiled, hissing and holding his hand to his chest. What had just happened!? He looked at the bruising hand, blood angrily rushing to the skin and purple splotches expanding around his knuckles. His fingers were curled, a stab of pain exploding in them when he tried straightening them out.

This wasn't right, Sniffles hadn't brought anything up about his invention breaking his hand in the near future, nor had he said it'd be staring at him, unfazed, with lifeless eyes. He was paralyzed, those dull circles pinning him to the spot and hand still clutching the bat. It wasn't until the buzzing of gears winding and wheels turning on the floor that Shifty snapped from his anxious state.

And he snapped out of it quick enough to avoid having his head hit off by the swinging bat.

Shifty landed on the ground, hissing again as he landed on his hurt hand, and looked at his oncoming assistant. "M.A.C?! What are you doing!? Are you trying to fucking kill me?!" He had barely rolled from his spot when the smashing of the wood, splintering as it hit marble flooring, sounded.

The mini dude hadn't been acting up this way earlier! He had listened to what he had told it; he hadn't ignored or defied him. What was happening to him? Sniffles always had bugs and glitches in his inventions, but none had ever been as extreme as one wanting to bust a friend's head in with a bat!

There was not a reason for why he'd be rebelling now, Shifty had given him things, like . . . like the responsibility of cleaning out an entire store, deal with Splendid, and get them away safely? But he was made of metal, it was his job and he wasn't supposed to revolt against that!

"G-d Sniffles, you're a screw up of a scientist!"

**xXx**

Sniffles looked up from his beakers of popping chemicals. He had felt as though someone, somewhere, had delivered a blow to his abilities of understanding science. Like a person had thrown a pebble at his wall of self-esteem. It had done little damage, a scratch that could be buffed out, but it had still caused a disturbance.

". . ." he pushed his glasses up his nose and said off handedly, "I really do hope Shifty's not angry that I put a rebuttal chip in M.A.C's system . . Never mind, I doubt he hasn't noticed a thing."

**xXx**

Shifty skidded to a stop and pushed his hand on the floor to keep from slipping before running up the next corner just as a vase shattered, a puff of dust and plaster film exploding around it. He shouted another stop, throwing down an empty podium and hoping it blocked M.A.C for a time.

They had been playing this game for a while now. Not because Shifty was actually holding his own against the small bot, but because M.A.C seemed to be having fun, if that was possible. His software had already connected the reason of why the other twin, Lifty he was told, to the high levels of defiance and anger towards his elder. It could do with their heritage, but it was likelier the way he would work his assistant, whether it be his brother or the newer helper.

Nonstop were his requests to get this and that for him. At times it was requests that dealt with what he was programmed for, grabbing a diamond from its guarded case, but other times it'd be simplistic tasks, like handing him the remote that was inches from his reach. He knew the word that would fit the twin and his actions perfectly: Infuriating. So, he took it upon himself to eliminate him and his idiocy.

The world was full of imbeciles as it was, one less wouldn't hurt anyone.

It would have been humorous, seeing the thief struggle with the door that he had barred, if he had had a laughing ability. But alas, Sniffles hadn't implanted that chip in his head, so how the male rattled the handle bar and whipped his fearing eyes back wasn't amusing. It wasn't funny, but it gave him the strange sense of power and satisfaction that was brought on by revenge, when one rose against the man who he was meant to obey.

And when that man was brought to his level, Shifty kicking out and reaching for any item he could use as a weapon, the feeling only grew. The longing to see that smirk wiped away and replaced by a scream of pain was nearing its climax, M.A.C raising the bat once more and staring plainly at his boss.

No. Not his boss; that was no more.

As Shifty watched the wooden stick snap down and the bot's eyes transform from an empty stare, to a coldness as cold as the icy winds of the tundra, he knew one thing and one thing alone.

He needed to get his brother back.

_Crack._

**xXx**

**ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. They are the monsters we created, they will be the ones who destroy us. Who's the real monster here then?**

**Crystal, I'm going to slit your pretty little throat while you're in the bathtub and use your blood to bathe myself in, I'm not kidding.**

**It's the least a jerk like you deserves~ :}**


	11. Confrontations of a Betrayer

Flaky allowed her smooth hands to drift over the dried work of pottery molded to resemble a larger pot. She dipped them in its basin temporarily and withdrew after finding it wasn't deep enough.

"That w-wouldn't work," said Flaky as she touched her hair contemptuously, asking herself whether she should have still gotten it, or searched more. "Maybe if I—no, not that either."

She monitored Lifty's actions, the thief jabbing his hand on a cactus and grunting. He made the noise more out of the want to be heard and given attention, miming the sound of real pain. Flaky giggled breezily and said, "L-Lifty?"

Lifty rubbed the pricked finger and swiped his tongue over the drop of blood he squeezed out, much to Flaky's disgust. "Eh yeah?"

"Can you help m-me pick out a flower pot for outside?" asked Flaky tentatively. "I-I can't pick by myself, so can you help me? You could pick one you like, I'm sure it'll be p-pretty!"

"Help you pick a pot?" Lifty said. His words were mumbled, but the meaning of the tone he took was there. And if his voice didn't say no, the uprising of his brow did the trick. "Why do you even want one?"

"I-I think I want a fern . . or another medium-sized plant . . something to brighten up the porch," Flaky whispered quietly and added in the following seconds, "but you don't h-have to, that is, if y-you don't want to . . ."

The pots surrounding them were all painted in gaudy colors that were turned dull in the sunlight; it was as though a group of Easter egg painters had come and been unleashed on the pottery. Designs simplistic, they didn't give an impact that would have her porch be counted as unique. There were plants that ranged from the color of an autumn gold to the reds of pomegranate seeds, but they would not be given a passing glance if the vase was not right.

These were the thoughts that Flaky was having, the female noticing every last detail and how they would clash with one another if she bought this plant and that vase.

But Lifty was more concentrated on the cash register, it being opened with every new purchase of a customer buying seeds and fertilizer. The muscle behind his eye was triggered when he heard the ring of the money holder each time it was opened, spewing quieted curses to whoever the genius who made a ringing register in the beginning. Not to say it was only made it worse that Lumpy was taking his shift just then, the dunce wouldn't notice if he took some bills.

Lumpy was giving the wrong amount of change out anyways, what would be the harm if he just—

"Lifty?"

And like that, he was broken from his money induced trance and snapped back to Flaky's question. She was staring at the register also, but her intentions couldn't have been anywhere close to his.

"D-do you want to help me? I could really u-use it, and it'd be fun for you to choose too!"

He was urged to snap that she had two arms and two legs, she didn't need his assistance, but he bit his tongue. "Hmm, and what do I get in return~?" It didn't matter if his living conditions had changed, he ways and rules of being paid back stood strong.

Flaky anticipated this question, handing him a gift card to, "Russel's Fish Eatery," Lifty voiced unenthusiastic about his payment. "Thanks, you must've gone all out on this, I'm so glad I'm in your thoughts~"

"I'm happy you like it," she blushed sheepishly. That wasn't a very thoughtful gift, payment, but she had scraped it up on the spot. "Russel g-gave it to everyone who helped with his restaurant, and I don't like fish so I thought you could use it?"

"I didn't get one and I helped too, that cheapass pirate." He didn't have a taste for fish either, but he wanted free things too. That was his time that he wouldn't get back, about five minutes of gawking at Splendid was enough to earn him a card.

Lifty, after another time of Flaky telling, insisting, him to help her, dragged himself to the shelves. They held the pots that were specialized for small trees and such; the orange-brown rust color wasn't the only option. There was an ashen holder on the lowest shelf, it was better than the rest, but he wasn't up for bending down.

He soon gave up trying to get it to move by glaring and knelt down. The pot, he found out, was cracked on the side and would leak water if poured in. But farther back was another identical to it, and Lifty was stretching for that perfect one. Cobwebs and dust didn't cause a disturbance, but why he was going this far just for a pot was beyond him. He could have picked an equally nice one on a higher shelf and saved him the trouble, but . . .

Lifty had barely grasped its handles when he felt a kick that held back nothing sent to his bottom. His head cracked against the underside of the shelf above him and caused him to let go of the pot.

With a sharp hiss and pained spots in his vision, he was going to kill the bratty kid who had decided to kick him. Some brats thought they could get away with anything; a good boxing in the ear would show them better.

"You freaking kid," Lifty said and shimmed out from the confined space. "Your stupid mother hasn't told you that you can't be kicking strangers in the ass has sh—" He was out, able to look up and choke on his last words.

"Hey, little brother~"

Lifty scrambled away, much to his later shame, from the sadistic fang toothed grin. Shifty's eyes were alight when he saw how his presence was bothering his younger twin. Ah, he hadn't expected acknowledging who he was, let alone think of him as his family anymore.

His fedora was pulled low over the left side of his face and hiding the vivid bruise; bandage wrapped hand behind him as well; he didn't want to show any weakness to the lower sibling and make himself look inferior to pain. If he was going to get his original helper back, he'd have to seem in charge. Lifty was a wuss, hardly disobeying his brother's most outrageous plans and listening to any and all things he said. This would be a piece of cake.

Lifty sat staring wide eyed at his lookalike, emotions flickering through his face in indecision and giving Shifty a window into his thoughts. There was first anger and resentment, which faded to hurting, that soon vanished into worry fused with defensiveness. His little bro was so easy to read, just like an open book.

"Shifty," Lifty started off stiffly, "what are you doing here."

"I'm hurt," said Shifty in a voice full of melodrama. "Don't I even get a hello~?"

Lifty was back to glaring. He rose up hesitantly and kept a tense hand on the dirt covered table. "Cut the crap, I want to know why you're here," he hissed.

"You really are hurting me, I thought that we could have a happy family reunion~ but I guess not." His twin smirked, indulging in the offense the younger thief took from it. Shifty was pinning it on him and implying it was he who didn't want to get along, the asshole. "Boo, what happened to my loving little brother? The one who looked up to and depended on me for everything?~"

"Shifty, why the fuck are you here . . ?! Just shut up with the fake stuff, you're as happy to see me as I am to you."

Shifty's smile disappeared. "Huh, so you've actually grown a pair in the last, what? Week and a half? Two? And here I thought you'd still be a pussy, but you aren't now, are you?"

Lifty was silent, as was the aisle they were in. Even the flies and bees had stopped their buzzing.

"Course you still are, and you always will be. So, lil bro," he pulled a petal from a flower, "what have you been up to?"

"Why do you care, I know you don't give a fuck about how I'm doing."

"You're smart, and I really don't. I've just been asking myself who your little friend is, the one who took ya in? Ring a bell? Because really, you wouldn't be alive if you were on your own~"

"You're such a dick," accused Lifty through bared teeth. "You think I can't take care of myself, well I can."

Shifty laughed a short, sarcastic chuckle, rolling eyes at the other. "In what world? Come on, fess up, who is it? I never thought that you'd finally have the guts to make friends, and this must be some hell of a friend. Who would take you into their house . ." Rubbing his chin, his smile was enlarged. "Who would let you come into their house, Lifty?"

"Get out of here."

"Oh, someone's on their period~ I might consider leaving you alone if you told me who you're staying with?" Shifty searched the expanse of plants, only finding Lumpy—still trying to give Handy the right change—and a child who was drifting from their parent.

Lifty pushed past him, saying in a guttural voice, "Drop. It."

"Ah ah, we're not done catching up, why are you already leaving?" He barricaded his path with an outstretched arm. "Is there a reason why you're in a rush? Why can't you stay and talk to me, we haven't seen each other for a while, I was starting to miss my brother~"

"Quit it with your bullshit, and move your damn arm."

"Hm, do they have a problem with your cursing? If they do, then I know I've taught you well."

The longer they communicated, the more Lifty was getting fed up with the lies and sugary tone his twin was using. Years of hearing his manipulative tongue paid off, because now he knew Shifty had a hidden purpose for interacting with his brother at all.

"No, they don't."

"And you're still not going to tell me who they are? Keeping me in the dark, Lifty?"

"Because I know that if I tell you," he spat, "you'll find some way to fuck it all up."

Shifty smiled impishly, now knowing how the younger felt towards this person. If he didn't want him to ruin it, it must have been special enough to protect. And that was all the more fun for him. "You think I'd do that? To you? My only brother?" He chuckled again, murmuring sinisterly, "Then you know me better than I thought you did."

Before Lifty could retort, he heard the voice that had become familiar to him, the voice he turned to if he needed to. And it couldn't have sounded more horrible than at that moment.

"L-Lifty, where are you?" Flaky asked, sounding like she was in the next aisle over. "I think I found a good pot, it's pretty and it doesn't cost that much. But . . it's k-kind of heavy and . . ."

The impossible happened, Shifty's smile grew enough to split his face in half. They were quiet until her voice faded to another part of the outside store.

"You little fucker," cackled Shifty. "Flaky's your little friend?! You're smarter than I thought you were, gaining her trust and everything. But I know what you're trying to do, and I just have to say, you're getting to be like me every passing day~"

What was he getting at . . .

"You really are clever, if I had the idea myself I would've done it a long time ago."

"What are you talking about?" questioned Lifty.

"I'm saying that I love the idea of you getting her trust, then," he licked his lips with an expertly darting tongue. "Having her ride you." Lifty choked on his air. "Isn't that is the game you're playing at? It's fucking smart, I might steal it one day."

"What!? T-that's not what I'm doing you dumbass!" This was crossing the line. Wanting nothing but to punch the smirking twin, he glowered at the idea of his hostess with someone as greedy . . stingy . . and animalistic as his brother.

"But let me guess, she hasn't even rode on your dick yet? Pity, she needs some deflowering. Would you ever consider trading spots, just so I can show that redhead something you'd never wanna show her~?"

No, this was far enough. He wasn't going to stand around and listen to his ass of a brother ask if he'd let him take his friend's purity—likely in the most brutal way. Sick.

"Shut up, I'm done talking to you, screw off." He was walking away, keen on finding Flaky, when he stopped dead.

Shifty's tone had changed, now serious from joking. His deep voice was worming into his mind and past his defenses as he said, "You'll never be one of her real friends, if that's what you want. You know why."

"You don't know that. You don't know anything."

"Listen to me, I'm your brother, and would I ever lie to you~?" Interrupting his yes, he spun him around and sneered, Lifty blinking at the dark bruise that the hat no longer hid. That's when he realized just how rundown his twin looked; the bruise, he saw his busted hand, and the how bloodshot his eyes were.

He cringed as the inch taller male moved in closer, hissing out bitterly, "You did this to me, you fucker. You did this."

Lifty, clearing his dry throat, said, "I-I didn't do anything."

"Oh yes you did~" Shifty sighed. "I even had to crush M.A.C, thanks to you, poor guy. Sniffles wouldn't even fix him up, so I came here to take you back."

"The van's parked on the street," he didn't see Lifty's confusion turn to anger. "If we go right now, then Flaky won't even know you're go—"

"No."

Caught off guard, Shifty was stunned at the abrupt answer, but he quickly recovered. _"What?"_

Lifty shook his hand from his shoulder. "You heard me_, brother_. I said no." This was either the biggest mistake of his life . . . or the best thing he could do, and if it was going to turn out in devastation, then why did it feel good saying no for once? "You kicked me out of our house, you said you didn't need me anymore . . and you don't even give a fuck about how I've been until your 'assistant' flips out and almost kills you. No, I'm not coming back."

To emphasize that he was serious, he held up both middle fingers and mouthed a long fuck you.

His brother walking away for real now, Shifty called out, "Oh yeah? Well fuck you too! Fuck you! Fuck. You! You're going to regret this, Lifty, mark my words. Her friends aren't going to accept you, you're an outcast. We're in this together, you can't walk away from me Lifty, you fucking pussy!"

The last part barely made it to his ears, but Lifty heard the furious betrayal in it. "They're just waiting to spit on you, stupid. They'll make your life hell, watch, then you'll come crawling back to me. You're gonna regret it. Keep a sharp ear for what Flaky's talking about, and I'll see you later, bro~"

Leaving the angered male behind, he felt lighter, as though a burdening weight had been lifted from his shoulders. But that airy feeling was overshadowed by Shifty's last words; he had said them without a hint of humor or as a taunt. That was enough to worry him, he was aware of how deceptive and how far Shifty would go if he wanted something badly, or if he needed revenge.

He had been in on the plan to call Giggles and tell her Cuddles was cheating, the bubbly girl panicking and confronting him. It had all been planned, down to the moment where she ran from his house in tears, the blonde chasing after her shouting it wasn't the truth, and the truck rumbling by just then. Not seeing it, Giggles was hit with a scream and run over, her boyfriend watching her body being turned into a speed bump and yelling hysterically.

All because Shifty had been pissed off that the skater had cut him in line for ice cream the afternoon before.

That was over nothing, and he had still reacted viciously, cleverly thinking up a plan that would mentally and emotionally hurt him rather than physically. But now, Lifty had rejected his offer and turned away. . . . He knew that it wasn't going to turn out well.

He needed to hide his frazzled look though, for Flaky had spotted him and was pointing to the pot she wanted. He would think about it later that night, try and figure out what Shifty had meant when saying to listen to her conversations.

"C-can you help me pick up that one?" Flaky asked, smiling when he complied without a whine or protest. She tagged along as he hefted the weighing down pot, surprise meeting her in the line that an annoyed Handy was waiting in, his face red and angry.

The twin hadn't seemed exasperated that the construction worker was still holding up the line, Lumpy having brought Toothy to help him count the change right, like he had showed he would be in other times like this. He, instead, looked lost in thought, fingertips hitting the pot without a beat. Flaky had had to call him three times to move up when Handy had lost his patience, stomped out, and left his purchases behind.

"Wha—?" he focused on the redhead and her questioning expression. "Yeah?"

"M-move up, it's our turn Lifty." It wasn't just a hunch, she knew he was thinking and fretting over something, and that was the cause of his recent zone outs. She put the back of her cool hand to his forehead, forgetting they were in public, and said, "You don't feel hot, are you sick?"

The thoughts of what Shifty could do to get his revenge were getting him to feel ill, but he wasn't about to inform her of the details of his and his brothers' confrontation. "Don't worry about it, Flaky, I'm feeling fine. Calm down before your hair turns white~"

Squeaking and grabbing her hair, she paid—Toothy swiping her item in a flash compared to Lumpy, who was sitting on a bucket staring cross eyed at a fly on his nose—and put a dollar in the tip jar.

"Thanks Flaky," Toothy smiled thankfully. "Hope that you have a good day, dude."

"H-heh, thank you, you too. Bye Toothy," Flaky smiled back and followed Lifty while he carried it out, catching herself staring in fascination at his flexing muscles. Ears turning pink when he smirked down at her, she hurried on to the car and opened the trunk for him.

As he placed the pot down, Lifty's gaze landed on the green van across the street. He shuddered as, from the shadowed driver's seat, he saw the grin before it was gone.

Flaky was oblivious to anything, her happy and sweet mood intact as he slid into the car. "Thanks for helping me."

"Yeah, no problem." Lifty looked suspiciously into his reflection from the review mirror, finding no differences in his appearance from the morning to then. What had stricken something inside him was her sentence of thanks, arousing a feeling of peculiarity.

_Thanks for helping me._

_Helping me._

_Helping._

"What the fuck."

**xXx**

**I don't know, something bigger was going to happen in this chapter, but I guess it's moved to the next chap, heh. So yeah, clarification time, Shifty did NOT die last chapter, hence the bruise and lack of hand being fixed.**

***enlists aid of Boony to help kill Crystal* Cousin Power! Let's get her! *gets the pitchforks and torches***


	12. So Damn Confusing

Since the two had arrived at her house, Lifty dozing on her couch, lulled by the steady pitter patter of the drizzle of rain that had been forecasted, and Flaky going to do homework in the kitchen, he hadn't let a peep about his brother out. He wouldn't worry Flaky about his family problems, she seemed to be having her own struggle against math. For all the redhead was worth, she wasn't very good when it came to numbers.

He had tried helping her, being good with his digits, but each attempt had failed miserably, so he had left her to figure it out. Hey, he had tried and that was more than he was used to.

Falling in and out of a sleeping stage, Lifty sat up and stared at the bumps of dried paint on the ceiling. The voice of his brother was echoing through his head, twisting into taunts and mocking him.

He turned his head and peered over his shoulder, subconsciously imagining that his brother was whispering into his other open ear. The whispers were quiet and too quick to catch at first, but they gradually became louder, the figment of a thief drawing out the words with every syllable.

_"Lifty,"_ Shifty's tone was snide, _"what are you still doing here~? Just ditch her and get your ass back to_ _the house, bro."_

Lifty waved a hand behind him, disturbed that he was feeling guilty enough to be imagining his twin. That couldn't have been right. "Buzz off." And now he was speaking to the mirage, he did need to stop taking Flaky's special sweets before he napped.

_"I telling you, she's gonna betray you one day, then who are you gonna be whining to? I'm your only family, so just come home, you little prick~"_

Go back home and be treated like nothing more than a doormat or a pack mule? Be given none of the credit when a heist went correct for once but be blamed for every failure? And have to deal with Shifty's 'give me everything you own' attitude? No, there wasn't a possibility that he would even consider going back to that hell hole. If he did, it would be over his dead body. His brother would have to drag his cold corpse there because he wasn't going to come of his own accord.

"Leave me alone, I'm going back to sleep." The pillow he dropped on his face was smacked to the ground, Shifty grinning at his annoyance.

_"Come on Lifty, you really think you're gonna stay here all your life? Like hell you aren't, and Flaky's already telling someone about it right now."_

Lifty glowered and turned onto his side, face buried into the musky scent of the couch; he was ignoring and trying to pull back the figment into his mind where it belonged. It was more agitating than his real twin, and it had been out only two minutes. The time away from his sibling must have had an effect on his thoughts about him, or could he really be this persistent. Persistent enough to lean forward, pluck a hair harshly from his scalp, and throw it to the ground, whispering to get up.

_"If you just went to the kitchen, you'd overhear her talking about you,"_ sang Shifty, smiling pleasantly as Lifty turned back.

"Will you get out of here if I do?" He must have been mad, making a deal with an imagined version of Shifty couldn't be normal, but then again he was tired of bickering and having his presence. If selling his soul to the devil did the trick and got rid of the sneering mirage, then he would gladly do it.

_"I promise, but remember what I said about keeping a sharp ear~"_

Getting up and off the couch, Lifty shook his head, glad that the obnoxious voice had gone. Keep a sharp ear, why not just say listen closely. He lowered the volume of his usually heavy steps as he neared the door leading into the kitchen, pressing up against the wall and grabbing the door frame.

Shifty had wanted him to hear whatever Flaky was talking about, but from what he had already picked up she was only complaining about how hard the assignment was. Leave it to his thought up brother to still be an asshole and cause him to get up for nothing. He had been working on a body shaped groove in the cushions, and now he would need to start over.

Though, he was drawn to what she was saying, listening to her confounded voice as she spoke to a friend through the phone. A girl whose name he knew well, egh.

"Lammy, I just don't understand a-any of this!" Flaky sighed out and pointed to the page. "Since when has t-there been letters in math?!" Lammy answered by saying since they had hit algebra in eighth grade, that was, if the teaching in the town was the same as her old school. "W-why do we need this in life though? I'm not going to be a rocket scientist . ."

"Who is?" Lammy asked, both pausing and answering simultaneously.

"Sniffles."

"But I'm not Sniffles," Flaky cried and laid her head on cool book pages. "I-I know he offered to tutor me . . but I didn't want to be a burden . . And n-now, I wish I had said yes."

"You just need to take a break from homework, I did. And I haven't had homework for the past week~ it's called giving it to someone smarter to finish!"

"Oh yeah? W-who did you give your homework to?"

"Mr. Pickles, duh! He says he likes helping me, and he's really good at math so I thought why not let him finish it! It's given me free time to work on my cheer and just have time to myself, I think you could use that time too. Want me to come over and see what I can help you with?"

It would be nice to have the extra help, failing pre-calculus this year wasn't her priority, but frankly she was concerned about what would occur if her two friends were in the same room again. They could either clash like swords where one of them could come out supreme. It didn't matter if Lammy was a female, she had the strength of the next boy and could rule over Lifty if she put her entire might and desire into it.

"N-no, I think I might be getting this actually." Why, oh why, did she sign up for one of the hardest classes she could possibly ever take? It hadn't been the smartest decision on her part, and now she paid the price for it by getting a barely passing grade. "You don't have to come over, besides, I-I have Lifty to help me with this. He's actually good at math when he actually focuses with me, I think I might understand it if I asked again."

Lifty smirked and considered her compliment as her bragging to the Frenchie about him. He listened to them for another nearly ten more minutes before he believed that he was just being paranoid. Paranoid enough to think his imaginary brother was even remotely right about Flaky; it was just him over thinking what Shifty could do. He wouldn't pull anything, he had just said the lie to make the younger twin fret over it.

About to leave his discreet hiding spot, Flaky's conversation stopped suddenly. He peeked in and saw her listening intently to the other line. Her lips were pressed tightly, worry lines burying into her forehead, and she was tapping her chin with the pencil tip. That couldn't be good, so he hung back to listen more.

Lifty cleaned his ears, straining them to hear what her lower than average voice said, ". . . I'm not sure if I can do t-this, Lammy. I really don't think I can."

_What is she talking about?_ he wondered. _What can't she do?_

"I-I know I'll feel just dreadful when I tell him that I can't do this anymore, but I k-know he'll understand. It's just . . . whenever I'm around him, I don't feel l-like I'm safe."

He listened tentatively, ignoring the storm of butterflies that had erupted in the depths of his stomach. _She doesn't feel safe around, around who? I bet she's talking about army boy, he looks kinda dangerous, if it wasn't for the luvy dovey face he has all the time._

"I keep imagining t-that he'll hurt me if I go near him, I know it's silly, but I'm scared. I don't think I can let him in my house anymore when I don't know what he'll do to me . . . Uh-huh, and h-he's also mean," she whispered, biting her lip and idly tracing a ring her cup had left on the math book. "I don't know how to deal with m-meanness, or when he snaps at me."

Snapping, mean, and the feeling of being unsafe around this person. With each added description, Lifty was sinking further down the wall and staring wide eyed at the wall. She was saying that she was going to throw him out, Shifty had been right, and she hadn't even had the nerve to tell him yet!

"I thought . . . at first . . . that he would be as nice as Flippy, b-but then after the first day—I just can't deal with this Lammy. I think I'll tell him later tonight that this can't happen anymore," Flaky decided, sounding pleased and a bit frightened.

_No, G-d no. I—fuck._ He couldn't think of anything better, feeling conflicted in his emotions. Before, he hadn't thought he had emotions, and if he did they were locked in a vault that he had long since lost the key to. But when the sweet redhead had come into the picture, she had begun messing with the lock that kept it sealed tight and eventually slipped past his defenses.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid! Idiot!_ Lifty thumped himself for letting it happen. _I'm such a dumbass, Shifty_ _would laugh at me if he was hearing this._

But instead of feeling saddened, he felt the onrushing anger at another betrayal fill him. It was stronger than the panic at the fairgrounds and left a bitterness in his thoughts. Frustration at being unable to detect what move the short female would pull next—he usually could predict what his opponents future moves were, but with Flaky it was like he couldn't get a reading from her—welled inside him like an overfilled cup.

It couldn't have been a coincidence that on the day Shifty met with him Flaky wanted to discard of the thief, they were in cahoots no doubt. From the beginning this had just been a tradeoff and the redhead had used him until she got tired. A child who tired of the new toy they had desperately wanted only after a few days, learning that it wasn't as fantastic as they thought it would be. No it couldn't be, but yes it could be. It was all so confusing . . . but Flaky could always clarify, Lifty realizing that she was saying goodbye.

"Yeah," Flaky murmured, "I'm going to have to tell Flippy t-that he needs another dogsitter, Pitch is just a too scary of a bulldog. O-okay, bye Lammy, t-talk to you later!"

She hung up and almost went back to her work, but feeling the sensation of the hairs on her neck standing as someone stared at her she stopped. In her peripheral vision she saw her guest's tall form leaning in the doorway. He was scowling darkly, a put off sign that she didn't pick up.

"Oh," Flaky rotated her body, "y-you're awake from your nap! Sorry dinner isn't ready yet, I kind of got pulled away from time, h-heh. But if you're hungry right now I could make you a s-snack to hold you a while long—"

Lifty pushed away from the doorway, growing a bitter smile, and put a gloved hand on her math book. His emerald eyes were hardened as he raised a finger to her lips, shushing her. With her no longer speaking, Flaky's scarlet eyes taken aback and a light tint of pink lining her cheeks, he took over the conversation.

"What were you just talking about right now," he asked solemnly. He hadn't wanted to jump to conclusions, but how she had sounded so secretive and back stabbing had brought him to it. "I inadvertently overheard you and I'm just curious~ what were you talking about."

Flaky's face deepened in color as he moved his hand to run through her hair. His dark eyes were enticing her to tell him what he needed to know, and the persuasion in his voice was moving. She didn't know what had brought this upon him, her cheeks flaring as he continued his minor touching, and she briefly wondered if it was a sort of stress reliever for him. He did seem to enjoy messing with and putting her in uncomfortable situations when he wanted something.

"U-um," she cupped her hand over his and gently pulled it from her hair, finding it impossible to speak with this new distraction. "I was just talking to Lammy and she was helping me with my homework." Shrinking when instead of her releasing his hand he gripped it in tightening hold, she whispered, "A-and it's rude to be eavesdropping in on people's conversations, Lifty."

Lifty bent lower, sending her shrinking even more at his close proximity, and popped the tension cherry. "Not when that conversation involves you, sweetheart, then you have the right to listen~ ya know, I really don't like when people talk behind my back."

Her blush subsided at the claim. "W-what? When people talk about you?" She cast away her eyes when he gave her the look that asked if she was really that stupid. Her relief she received from staring at nothing but his shoes was taken away as he lifted her chin up, amusement fleeting and replaced by a choleric stare.

"Yes, Flaky, when people talk about me I get very annoyed," he brushed the corner of her lip, "it makes me think they're saying bad things about me, but you'd never do that, would you~?"

She once again moved her hand up to stop his, face pink and ears aflame. "N-no? Lifty what are you talking ab—"

"Hnng, I just wanna know why you're telling Lammy things that don't concern her when you haven't even told me yet." He dropped his hand and stuffed it in his pocket. His intimidating expression and tugged down lips closer than Flaky found appropriate, she felt the warm gasps escape her lips and pencil dropping from her shaking grasp.

"Don't play stupid Flaky, I know what you're up to. You think you're so smart and your games are entertaining, well they aren't. And I advise that you stop them right now, I'm not as nice as your war veteran and I can do and say things that will—" He stifled a curt laugh at her gaping mouth.

"Lifty I-I really don't know what you're speaking of . . ! I wouldn't say anything bad about y-you if that's what you're asking, really."

"Oh really?~ then why did I specifically hear you telling Lammy that you're not going to—" his words turned sardonic and scornful, "—'deal with this' anymore? If you think I'm so mean, if you finally realize that, then why didn't you tell me to go a while ago? Why did you wait until now when . . ." When he had turned away his last option thinking she would be his rock from now on.

Flaky, thoroughly confused with where he had gotten that from, asked, "Are you talking about . . ? N-no Lifty it wasn't what you think, you misunderst—"

"I know what you said, Flaky, and it just proves how big of an idiot I am for thinking that this could happen." There was nothing, absolutely nothing, going on between them and still he felt betrayed. He had taken her kindness and began thinking that it was something else, that just maybe, but it was a stupid idea in the end.

He straightened suddenly, rubbing the back of his neck, and shrugging as she stuttered out incomprehensible words. Waiting for her to say something, anything, he could only turn away when she didn't.

"You should call Flippy or someone, you don't know what could happen these next few days." She didn't know if Shifty would be up to any tricks, and having a boy that could drive the vengeful thief away or be her protection if the need should arise gave him a sense of comfort. "I'll see you around town Flaky, thanks for giving me a place for a bit. It was . . . n-nice of you." The unfamiliar word had refused to be formed by his lips that usually said acrimonious curses or offensive sayings, ending in the coughed out stammer.

And before Flaky had called to him to explain, he had briskly left. Speechless, she grabbed her pencil off the floor and stared after him, going back to work with troubling thoughts floating in her head.

Actually, she had worked for a short two minutes then had gotten up and went to go fetch her umbrella.

**xXx**

Pulling his scarf tighter around his bare throat, Lifty shielded his eyes from the quickening rain and hunched his shoulders. His shoes splashed up puddles that wet the trimmed ends of his pant legs, gaining his annoyance when they dragged through mud and ended up sticking to him. Hand still in pocket, he jumped down onto the street that was heading away from the redhead's house.

It really had been a stupid thought. How in the world did he believe that this would work? A girl who coped with paranoia coupled with a boy who stole for a living would not have turned out well. Not that he was thinking of anything along the lines of . . . but a platonic friendship in general would have been difficult too. She was in the group that could go anywhere and do anything without being judged or suspected; he was in the—it was hardly a group—category of untrusted, crude people that everyone would contradict what they said unless they had concrete proof.

The way she so strongly believed that she could influence his cause was an ambitious thought, but nothing more.

As the rain began pelting down harder Lifty sped up into a half jog. Within ten minutes he had gotten to the shopping area that was usually streaming with shoppers, people bustling to get the items on their lists bought, but in the downpour it was empty. Save for a few people rushing to get in their cars. He would walk past them and receive stares of discomfort, as well as finding that the people still out took evasive actions upon seeing him. They clutched their objects tighter as if they knew he was the culprit who stole them on most occasions.

He turned into a music store to avoid these actions. The shelves were racked high and filled with CDs of every genre, ranging from classic rock, to modern day pop, and breezy indie. Air conditioned air blasted from the vents and was gratefully welcomed, fresh opposed to the humidity of the outside. He saw a cyan colored head from over the shelves and heard a low 'oh yeah~' behind the counter. Other than that the store was empty, Lifty sighing in contentment at the hope of being undisturbed.

Disco Bear was thinking otherwise, though. The afro haired man took off the earphones, a techno beat a emitted off them, and watched the browsing teen. This looked like a person who had walked in just to touch and leave. He didn't want those, they were just filling up space real customers could be in. Turning the music down, he snapped his fingers until Lifty's attention was on him.

"Hey, if you're just gonna get everything dirty, why don't you go somewhere else? I'm running a business here, and it can't attract the lovely ladies if there's only dudes in here~ get what I'm playing at?"

Lifty wasn't all that comfortable being talked to by the local pedophile either, he had his ways of making everyone near him feel awkward. He placed the record he was looking at back and answered, "No."

"Meaning, if I'm only bringing in guys, it might just look like I'm going for the other team, and I do not want the girlies thinking that~" DB wasn't thinking of how much his profits would be affected if he turned away every male clientele and saved his services for the women. "So I need you to leave, boy."

That was a good tactic for losing business. The groovy man wouldn't have known if he had brought money with the intentions of purchasing something; he hadn't, but still. The twin picked the record behind the one he had set down, turning it in his hands. He read the song names and recognized none, but put it under his arm and nodded at the owner. "Right, no problem, I'll go right now."

"That's a good kid—" Squinting, Disco Bear saw the dark red corner sticking out from his arm that could only belong to a cover. "Hey, where are you going with that? Boy, you cannot buy anything, there won't be music left for the ladies. Are you hearing me?"

"Yeah, I hear you loud and clear~" Lifty passed through the metal detectors, grinning as they started beeping and the jubilant feeling of stealing again coursed through him. "But that doesn't mean I have to listen to you, old man~!"

DB sputtered and ran around the counter—his attempt at hopping over it had failed, his bulging gut getting in his way. "Oh~ that is not cool~ Get back here!"

Lifty stuck his head back in the store, smirking at the round man pushing the only other customer aside and warning him that he would call the police. "Get back there or what? You'll eat me~? Fatass, guard your stuff more next time." He ducked out of the music store as Disco Bear bumbled around knocking over CDs and even a rotating stand.

His breath exhilarated from the steal, no matter that it was small, he raced to the last store and cut its corner. Over the heightening rain Lifty heard the outraged voice of the oversized store owner, who had given up the chase when reaching the door, shout to him. The snarky smile was still intact even as the shouting and threats stopped, his eyes turning back to the object of ruckus.

The record, droplets of water rolling down the laminated cover, was of a band he hadn't heard of. But by the looks of the mullets and thigh high jean shorts, he wouldn't want to know. He giddily wiped the water away and stared a bit longer, the excitement waning after the third minute and the smile slipping from his face. Going from the eagerness of getting his hands on a new object and putting his trade to work, to staring at it simply, he realized just what was going on.

He was standing in the rain by himself with a completely worthless item in his possession.

This wasn't his normal train of thought, but now it just . . . It looked like what it really was: A record he would never listen to and never work up the energy to sell. Not that most people would like to purchase an unpopular band's album. It was a worthless thing that he wouldn't need but had felt good to take, and when he took a double take it had turned into garbage. How was that . . ?

Lifty looked towards the street where cars were driving by and splashing up puddles, frowning genuinely.

He was alone and had cut cords the one person who was his family, though that wasn't the being he was thinking about. His thoughts were turned to the little redhead who had been kind to him from minute one, dealing with his oppressive attitude and giving him a peek into the amount of optimism she had. There was enough for her to give a generous amount to him, but all the offerings he had rejected and enjoyed his own anger.

He had digressed from her while she tried aiding him in his problems, turning a blind eye to her helpfulness and acceptance. Why he wouldn't, hadn't, let her assist him only fueled his growing annoyance. Ignorant, that's what he was if he deliberately tried going against every rule she had. She told him to be nice, and he brought he inner mean out; she asked him to help her with little things, and he made certain that she did all the work herself; she said she would listen to anything he had to say, and he refused to speak to her.

Why did she had to be so nice and wholehearted, it wasn't fair to him, the male who could give only rudeness and pretentious attitudes. She was—ugh, so confusing with her sweet and gentle self. He'd have felt better if every blunder or snappish remark he made was responded with harsh and punishing words on her part; the forgiveness she gave if he screwed up was more than he could understand. Flaky was . . . was . . .

"So frustrating," Lifty muttered. Face twisting in disgust at the record, he made it to the trashcan and stared into it. He didn't need it, he did not need it; he would never in his life need it. Struggling at the inner conflict, his fingers released its sides until only his index finger and thumb remained holding it up by its corner. "Flaky, you're so terrible."

She was terrible because she had brought him to his knees by being herself. By acting as his new weakness.

Lifty let go of the album and watched its descent into the dark trash, mouth opening and shutting. He turned, walking to the wall of the nearest store and sitting down on the wet pavement. Back pressed to it, he turned his eyes to the grey sky and sighed, the pellets of rain hitting his skin. "G-d, I am a jerk." The twin shut his eyes and huffed out, "Screw everything . . ."

_Pat, pat, pat._

He opened his eyes at the patting of light feet on the slippery concrete and a huffy breath.

The first thing he saw were the tan socks covering pale flesh.

Trailing up, Lifty passed the black skirt, baggy sweater, and fiery curls of hair that framed a round face. Her cheeks were flushed and the red umbrella he remembered clearly was held over her, mouth open in soft pants due from her running. Flaky tightened her hand on the umbrella, swallowing and waiting expectantly.

Receiving no response, she tried speaking, but finding her words and sounds gone.

". . ."

Lifty stiffened and almost cursed in surprise when she dropped the umbrella with a clatter, going onto her knees despite the wet floor. He didn't say a word as she moved into the space between his open legs, his shirt being gripped in her small hands and her plushy chest pushed up against him.

Her hair tickling the underside of his chin, her moist nose touching his heating neck, Flaky whispered, "I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry Lifty. Sorry."

She . . . she had went after him, Lifty's brain finally processed, face burning at the realization. If she had been so intent on finding him just to apologize, how much in the fault could she be? Surely she wouldn't have said she didn't want his presence anymore then waste over half an hour tracking him in the rain. . . .

"Lifty, I'm s-sorry," she choked out, fisting his shirt and vest tighter. "If I h-hurt you in some way, I didn't know I did. If you told m-me my mistake then I could do something about—"

The unexpected happened, Flaky gasping as the thief held her trembling body in his strong arms in a fierce hug. Breathing uneven and eyes blinking away the rain, she heard him utter a deep grunt.

Lifty stared at the dark clouds with a bad mood frown, the color of his face a red that he wanted hidden from her view. "Shut up Flaky, you need to stop apologizing."

Flaky couldn't stop her small smile, knowing that would be the closest he came to giving an affectionate response.

Twice he had thought she was a fake, and twice he had been proved wrong. If that didn't say something, he didn't know what did.

"And you really need to stop being so damn confusing. Seriously."

**xXx**

**This was so fluffy and oh gosh Cx**

**How come everyone is turning against me!? Crystal is the butthole here! I should start a petition or something, maybe a war! You hear that Crystal? I'm calling war on you! Anyone who wants to fight with me should just stab her and—**

**Person: Shut up! You talk too much! *throws brick and hits my head***


	13. Vicissitude

Lifty stared with uncertainty towards the escalating steps that led to the library, edginess transparent on his features. Flaky gave his hand a supportive squeeze and spoke words of encouragement. This was a step for the better, but he was dubious and uncertain if he'd go along with it, or deny any help. He feared his abrasive side would be called out and he'd refuse the help of the war veteran he so truly detested. His brown nosing behavior made him irritable to say least, and he willed that he wouldn't get bothered.

The irksome soldier was not going to get on his nerves—he hoped for that much.

He looked sideways at the waiting redhead, her bright eyes saying that he had all the time he needed. She was so kind, he couldn't let her down. She wouldn't mind if he failed on his first attempt, it was bound to happen, but he wasn't hyped to feel the sense of disappointment that flooded into her. It was time to either work up and try to correct the mistakes of his path or delude the other two into thinking he was fixed; the former was the goal he wished to achieve.

"Are you ready? I a-already called Flippy beforehand and asked if he'd be alright with doing this," said Flaky seeing his concern. "If you don't want to do this you don't have to. We can a-always go back home—" Home; that was how he referred to it now. "—and watch a movie. Really Lifty, don't think I'm forcing you to do this."

"You're not forcing me to do anything," Lifty snapped back annoyed that she was questioning his will to do this. But upon seeing her solemn face, the girl biting her cheek from inside from the outburst, he reminded himself that he needed to be patient. Patient and kind was the way, Flaky had said, and he needed to learn that. "I didn't mean it like—it just came out—ugh." He wiped a hand down his face and huffed. "Look, you're not forcing me to do anything okay? I agreed to this myself, and I'm not gonna be a pussy and wimp out right now."

Flaky turned her eyes away, staring apprehensively at the elevating stairs and fretting over the worry of the two butting heads. Yes they had gotten along somewhat decently at the fair—if that meant they dealt with each other's presence for five minutes before the bickering started up again—but that didn't mean that Flippy would show any niceness to the twin anymore. It had been a once in a lifetime opportunity, the two of them standing the other, but that had passed on. Currently, she was fearing what would go down should one let the wrong thing slip.

"Okay, but if you want to leave at any time just tell me. I'll t-tell Flippy we have something planned, I think he'll understand, and we can go home in a—"

"Flaky," Lifty grabbed her moving lips to shut her up, "stop thinking of the worst. I don't know why you're the one panicking anyways, soldier boy likes you. You're not the person that he wants to stab and break their bones, are you?"

No matter how true that was, she couldn't conceal her bubbling unease. What if Flippy stabbed him with a pencil? What if he did it in the eye? What if because of the stab, Lifty would have to get a glass eye? And the glass eye wouldn't match and fall out sometimes and—"I'm not panicking," Flaky smiled coyly to hide her obvious fear. "I'm just wondering, u-um, what would you like for lunch?"

The trek up the steps was like the previous one—Lifty exaggerating and complaining that they should just put a seat lift and Flaky unfazed by it. She held open the glass doors, Lifty becoming anxious as he walked through them, sticking to and waiting for her to come inside before moving on. The library was vacant as always, except for over the shelves where he saw a sailor hat. He was going to ask Flaky if she had a clue who they were, but she had rushed on to the checkout counter.

"Egh," the twin had trouble repressing the gag of disgust as how the vet's face lit up as he saw the redhead. No doubt they were talking about boring topics again, and it was barely the beginning of their meet. He went and sat on one of the red plush couches, the kind that he would find at an old retirement home, and it was about as comfortable as if he'd been sitting on wood. It was always the squishy looking furniture that turned out to be hard as a rock.

"So where is the little ass—" Flaky glowered at Flippy, preventing him from finishing his affectionate nickname for the other. "I mean . . . butt. Where is he, thought I saw him come in after you."

The tables where she'd thought he had sat at were empty when she looked, leading her gaze to the couch he occupied. "There he is," she covered her mouth and held back a giggle as, while trying to get comfortable, his back cracked audibly.

"Shit," Lifty grumbled rubbing his now hurting back. He would need a chiropractor to fix his misplaced spine, and he didn't have time for that. "Hey, soldier, why don't you replace these damn couches? One day, someone's gonna break their back and sue you for it."

"Now why would I do that?" Flippy said. They sat on the cement seats, Flaky bolting up and choosing to stand rather than sit for an unknown reason, and the veteran muttering that maybe he would talk to the city about new chairs.

"Hm~ glad you're finally talking my advice instead of blocking me out like a dumbass."

"So now you're putting the blame on me for this? For your information, I don't sit on these chairs so I wouldn't know if they were uncomfortable."

"And whose fault is that~? I think you should take the blame—"

"And I think you should just be quiet before—"

Enough! She was not going to sit around and have the two boys who were supposed to get along this one time fighting! Sick of it, Flaky held her hand up to cover his spilling mouth. "Lifty, Flippy, stop. Be nice. Y-you two always fight and I can't . . well I can't stand it. Can you please keep yourselves for just an hour?"

Flippy winced at her punishing tone. "But Flaky—"

"It's not my damn fault—" Lifty interrupted.

"It's him who's being a jerk—"

"Soldier boy's being a big dick—"

"Stop it! If you can't behave . . j-just behave!" Flaky cried out. "Really . . . I think that we could all be g-good friends if you two just got along. We could get together, and Flippy y-you could show Lifty how to be nicer, Lifty, you could tell him about yourself. I don't understand why you guys always argue and . ."

Girls always had high dreams. They wanted the world to be lollipops and sunshine, but that wasn't how it was. At all. In their mind, they believed everyone should love everyone and nobody should fight. But if the world worked like that, did she really believe that the two green haired males would be giving her looks that contradicted it?

Lifty and Flippy exchanged sickened looks. Friends? With him? Please, not even in another world where they were the only two boys who could use friendship to save the world would they put their differences aside. It just wasn't possible, they were born to be enemies.

"No that wouldn't be such a good idea," they began, but being taken aback when they saw the full power of Flaky's eyes on them. Hope, pleading, and hurt were pooled in them as she whispered a small please, her hands cupped together under her chin.

It was disturbing how much this meant to her, and from the look on the other's face they wouldn't be the one to break the news to her. They wouldn't want to be known as the douche bag from now on.

"Well I guess if it means that much to you . . ." Flippy caved. "We can let it be, if just for a bit."

Such a kiss ass. Not to be outdone, Lifty leaned in front of him and smiled pleasantly. "Yeah Flaky, you don't have to worry~ I promise that I'll be on my best behavior for you."

"And I promise," Flippy's hand gripped the side of his face, shoving him back forcefully on the couch, "that I'll be extra nice today if it'll make you happy! You know that I like seeing you happy."

Lifty growled and slapped his hand away. "Oh really now? What if somebody, oh I don't know who, just came and kicked you in the shin. Here, let me give you an example."

"An example?-" The searing pain shot up the vet's leg, coming from his only boot protected shin and a result of the twin's anger kick. Flaky jumped at his groan. She hadn't been able to see the act of violence from her standing pose. Flippy rubbed the bruising spot absently and bared his teeth in a deep growl. "So funny. You are the laugh master.

"You know what would be funnier? Like super funny? I know that you'll just love this; you'll be dying from laughter." Immaturity and spite had taken control, Flippy leaning forward and grabbing the legs of the couch. He was bound to be punished by the staring redhead later, so why should he not carry on his plans.

A deep creaking and a stifled yelp were accompanied by a voluminous thunk.

"L-Lifty!" The shy girl ran to where the twin was sprawled back on the floor. He groaned and said that his back was cracked back in place, but now he would have neck problems. "A-are you hurt anywhere? Badly hurt?" Her delicate fingers were running over his chest and back, prodding to see of he felt pain.

"I'm fine," Lifty groaned and grabbed her moving hands from trailing over him anymore. "But that jerkwad did that on purpose. You think he's so innocent, well he's not."

The soldier's smile was as innocent as crying puppies.

"Who? Me?"

**xXx**

"No! You're doing it wrong, who told you to do that? Are you even listening to the steps I'm telling you?"

The aggravating goody goody's voice was right in his ear as he pointed out the mistakes he had made. An hour later and the air conditioning cut off forty minutes ago, this was already turning into a bust. Lifty strongly wanted to learn what to do and what not to do when it came to real life situations, but the constant correction was freaking annoying.

Like, beyond annoying.

It was like his mom coming in the morning before a school day. She knew that he would be tired and hoping to sleep in, but she insisted on opening the damn curtains all the way. Added to the sunshine and pep that was too high to begin with, she'd abruptly change moods and yell at him to get up. Just an example, but it fit just fine with this.

"I'm just doing what you told me to do." Lifty growled. He pulled out the chair and beckoned Flaky to sit.

"Well, you're not doing it well enough," contradicted Flippy. "After she sits down you don't just stand there like a buffoon and make ape faces, you take your own seat. Haven't you ever acted as a gentleman? Oh right, you haven't, my bad, but I would've thought you'd know the basics of being polite."

"I gave her a compliment, what else do I need ta know?" He took his own seat and planted his face on the table. This was so stupid, he wouldn't need to know how to be nice to a girl in life. He'd like to think he wouldn't, anyways, so he'd have a reason for believing this was a waste of energy. Giving girls an endless stream of compliments wasn't what he had signed up for, he already knew how to do that, he had signed up for learning how to resist the temptation of stealing.

Flippy sat on the table, tugging his dog chains. "Really now? And what was the compliment he gave you, Flaky?"

"I-it was a nice one," Flaky stuttered, taking interest in her fingers as if they were engaging, "he told me that . . my hmamir . . ." Her bangs dropped to hang and block her eyes. The last words of her sentence coming out murmured, Flippy nor Lifty could hear her.

"What? Flakes you have to speak louder, I can't hear you. Please repeat what you said."

"I said that he told me my hair looks clmeamer . . ." Color rising into her face, Flaky coughed into her fist and smiled weakly. "H-He said my hair looked cleaner." A rude to some compliment, but she took it warmly. The last thing he had said about her hair was she needed to wash it before people started thinking of her as dirty.

The veteran scowled at the meager compliment. He snapped his fingers at Lifty, knowing that she deserved something better than being acknowledged by her clean hair. "That's another point I'm docking from your score, you don't tell girls that their hair is only cleaner. What are you trying to do? Make them think they aren't pretty?"

"N-no Flippy I really don't mind; I don't think h-he meant it like that. I know my hair is . . I-I thought it was a nice compliment—"

Groaning, Lifty took his own seat, infuriating Flippy even more when he saw the twin's elbows on the table. He put a stop to the conversation as he admitted the worst thing possible: Defeat. "Maybe I'm not cut out for this, honestly. You two can go be good people and help the world or some shit like that, but I don't know if I can." He had badly wanted for Flaky to be proud that he had put effort into it, even if he didn't show it, and it was embarrassing that he had quit so easily.

It was a challenge though, and he wasn't one for challenges. He enjoyed the easy way in life where any and all things he wanted were just an arm's reach and swipe away. But he didn't want to resort back to stealing, he was refusing the urges to get his hands on possessions that weren't guarded and jack them. Unless this little session would magically cure him of the greed disease, that was the easiest path in life.

The person who spoke up and called bull on his statement was the one he thought would let him slip by, Flaky.

Flaky shook her head in refusal at the testimony of defeat, denying his request of giving up. "No, Lifty, n-no. You think you can't do this, but I know t-that you can. You just . . need to try harder! I know that part of you don't want to do this and you might think it's d-dumb, but I know there's also another part that really does want to change!

"If you just tried harder," she went on, her voice growing stronger, "I think, that in a-a few weeks you'll break this habit! I know they say old habits are hard to b-break, but I believe with some encouragement this will be a thing of the past."

Lifty turned his head to her, an uplifted eyebrow and turned down lips regarding to the small motivational speech she gave. Stare flickering to the awestruck solider who had let his straight stand slip into a hunch, he glanced back at the determined redhead. She wasn't looking detoured by his silence, her hands clenched as her hard gaze bored into him.

He wasn't going to let a girl beat him when it came to determination, no, that made him appear weak, and he wasn't weak. All he could do was suck it up and be a man—a man who wasn't feeling friendly towards the niceness rule.

"Alright," he finally got out, "if you're gonna get all motivation and willpower on me whenever I decide to give up, then . . . damn, you're smarter than you come along to be." He grinned widely at her humble blush, awareness coming back to her, and she hid behind her hair once more.

Pointing to the seat across of him, he said for Flippy to take a seat. "Guess you'll be stuck with me for a bit longer soldier, sucks for you~"

Flippy shook his head to rid it of the bad thoughts drifting inside. They were very bad thoughts. Very. "You seem smug about that," he pointed out before holding the same old wallet he had on their first meeting day in his fingers. "It's as though you think that this is going to be a challenge for me; because it's not. We're gonna start at the basics again, think you can handle that, thief?"

Challenge riddled and dripped from his tone, as well as flashing in his forest green eyes, something the twin couldn't ignore. The subconscious stinging started up in his hand, like his skin cells were recalling the abuse they had gone through.

He scratched the hand and imagined the irritated pink it had once been, the snapping of the ruler that sounded over and again.

"If you think that's the way to go, then why not. Lay it on me, and I'm not stupid enough to make the same mistake again." Meaning he wouldn't try the librarian again-what a fail that was. He liked the feeling in his hand, and he planned to keep it that way.

Flippy threw down the wallet, the leather money holder sliding to the middle of the table, and crossed his arms. Satisfied and almost sure of the crook's next move, he waited and nodded to say to reach for it.

Lifty wasn't going to be fooled that quickly though. Scanning under the table for some unseen ruler or torture device, he sat straight again after finding nothing of the sort. But he was vaguely aware of the knife in the army boy's pocket. "So I just reach for it? No tricks? Because I fucking swear, if you stab my hand, I'm gonna . ." He would be screaming out every swear in the book as Flaky tried dislodging the offending object.

"It's nothing like that, just get it. Go ahead, grab it."

Throwing caution to the wind and accepting any pain that would be inflicted on him, he reached and grabbed the wallet from its spot. His flinch was visible as he awaited the sharp snap of the ruler, a blade in his wrist, or any pain, but his waiting was proved vain for it never came. Instead, Flippy sat watching him with a slight smirk playing on his lips.

Suspicious, the twin checked inside it and found only dollar bills and a twenty. That wasn't the miniature laser to the eye trick or ink squirting pen he'd expected.

"What the fuck," he uttered dumbfounded. "What's the catch on this then? I took your wallet, now what? The point?"

"No point," Flippy answered coolly. "I just wanted you to look at it, now give it back. Can you do that? Just hand it back to me." His outstretched hand opened for the wallet, receiving it from a confounded Lifty without a fight or argument on his part. "You did great, now I want you to do something for me."

"W-wait slow down, what was all that wallet jizz for if I didn't even learn anyth—"

"I want you to go to my jeep and get my books from under the glove compartment. It's in front of the passenger's seat, you can't miss them. They're titled 'History of US' and the other is 'Temperamental Animals', can you do that?" The green head threw a set of car keys to the further confused thief. Without an answer to his repeated questions of what the wallet test was for, and a low mutter on how come he couldn't get his lazy ass to his jeep, he sent the other out of the library.

Flaky herself was processing why her friend had put him through a pointless test. If it didn't help or hurt him, then why was it important or even worth going through? Curiously she edged closer to the still smug boy and asked, "H-hey Flips, why did you do that? Was there a real p-point or were you just . . yanking his chain?"

"Oh, there was a reason for it," stated Flippy in a successful tone.

". . What was it?"

**xXx**

Outside, Lifty was passing every car in the parking lot and looking for the right vehicle. The massive jeep should have stood out to him first, but for an odd reason it was the last blended into the smaller crowd. Lame camouflage.

He clicked the opening button on the keys and climbed into the passenger's seat, feeling weird that he was in his nemesis' car. Well the books weren't going to get up and cone to him, he figured and began shifting through the mess of papers the retired soldier had.

**xXx**

Flippy leaned back in the chair, its legs creaking in resistance under his weight. "I knew what I was doing Flakes, did you see how he didn't fight me back when I asked for him to give me my wallet? Don't you think that at any other time he'd argue against me and try to keep it because of the money?"

Flaky thought his reasoning over before his plan began unravelling in front of her eyes and it became clearer. It hadn't dawned on her that he had a cause behind his little test, but obviously he had planned two steps ahead. A skillful trait he had needed during the war, and it had only proved helpful in this session.

"Y-yeah I think I see what you did . . but do you think he was just doing it out of confusion . . or is he actually changing . . ."

**xXx**

Lifty had pushed aside all the clutter and was seeing the jeep carpet-about time. The two books were nowhere in sight though; he grunted at the extra work and began moving and piling more papers. "Damn vet, he needs to get his crap cleaned up." For a boy who was supposedly the best of the best, he was messy as hell.

The growling from the back seat hadn't reached his ears yet as he found and lifted the two books onto his lap. He read the titles, yawning afterwards at how boring they were, and was about to hop back out of the jeep. The deep and threatening rumble that sounded by his elbow froze him though, the twin slowly turning to see what company he had.

**xXx**

"That's for you to decide," He replied distantly, "if you want to think the best, then I believe he might be taking influence from you. If this continues on, you would be seeing a bigger change in him than you ever thought before."

Smiling at the thought of a transformed Lifty, Flaky brushed her hair away. "T-thanks Flippy, I didn't take you for psychiatrist type of person." She giggled and poked his arm teasingly, but grew curious again while remembering an unimportant detail. "Flippy, I need to ask, w-what ever happened to Pitch? After I told you I couldn't dog sit for you, y-you said you'd figure something out. Did you find a new pet sitter?"

That was when the joke seemed to get funnier, Flippy grinning enthusiastically now and laughing a throaty chuckle. The chuckle grew into a full laughter where he bent over the table, having to cover his mouth and body shaking at the inside joke. Flaky waited for his fit of laughter to be over before she proceeded in asking, "What's so f-funny?"

"O-oh, nothing," snorted Flippy. "Nothing at all.

**xXx**

Lifty was frozen as the gleaming yellow eyes held his anxious, almost fearing, emerald ones. They lowered to stare at the sharpened canine chompers the growling dog had, a dribble of froth and saliva dripping to the floor. So this was Pitch? . . . It was nice meeting him, definitely one of the more cuddly animals he had met in his life, but now it was time to high tail it out of there.

"Good dog," he said hushed, scooting back from it and worrying that his arm was going to have a jaw locked in it soon. "Good dog. I'm gonna go now, so just stay there while I get out and leave you alo—"

The dog's vicious barking told him that there wasn't a possibility he'd be able to talk reasoning into it; it really was time to get out! Screw the books! He bumped back against the closed door as the rabid animal climbed onto the arm of the seat, clawing the thin coverings beneath it and snarling at him. The clicking of all doors being locked as his elbow slipped and pressed the lock down was the sound of death bells to him.

Death by a demonic dog, what could be worse.

"Nice dog, good dog," Lifty whispered, hastily trying to open the door handle and failing in unlocking it effectively. "Stop it right now! Please?!"

His pleas were ignored as Pitch snapped his teeth and lunged for his vulnerable neck.

Lifty spun around to the window and began pounding on it using both fists, shouting as the space closed between them. "FUCK NO!"

**xXx**

**Chehehe don't know where this chapter came from xD Don't have a lot to say except THIS STORY NEEDS TO DIE AND BE DONE WITH GRR. I really do hate making long multichapters . . . but I always have ideas for them! D:**

***the song Sunshine Lollipops and Rainbows by Lesley Gore comes on* cuz you're in love, and love is here to staaayyy! *decapitates Crystal and Boony and putts their heads away using a golf club***


	14. Giggles' Magic

**Warning: I'm pretty sure I was half asleep when I wrote this. So it definitely has randomness that probably has nothing to do with anything. :D**

**xXx**

"F-Flippy! Do something!" bleated Flaky. Another of her popular ear piercing shrieks sounded as the bloodied hands vanished from the window. "Get him out! L-Lifty hold on, o-oh gosh hold on! Flippy, did you d-do this?!"

Flippy's humor filled smirk evaporated to an adamant frown at the prospect of rescuing the troublemaker. He had specifically left the crazed dog in his jeep not out of the cruelty of his heart, but for vengeance. Revenge was best served cold after all; being mauled by a beast would be a sufficient payback.

"Now why would I commit such a low act? It's belittling and-but on a scale of one to ten how mad would you be if I did plan this?" Sheepishly, he smiled while averting his stare. "If I did help him out, isn't there a chance of me getting bitten too? It's better if only one of us gets hurt while the other takes one for the team. He had a good run, but you know, we'll live with it."

Gaping, disbelieving that her always cheerful and loving friend would allow the attack to proceed, Flaky's look was aghast. One moment he was helping the twin, the next he was waiting for his oncoming death.

"F-Flippy please help—" . . . Why did she need to ask more than once for him to stop his dog? Shouldn't he have listened to her the first time? Flaky poked her index fingers together, tightening them into firm fists. That was right, he should have done what she asked for the first time around. Did he not think she was serious? Had she stuttered when saying her plea? That wasn't the point, the point was he—shouldn't have tricked Lifty at all-should have gone straight away to contain the horrid animal.

Her newfound determination was put into action as she tapped Flippy, driving his attention that'd been indulged in the shudder of the jeep. Her lower lip jutting out in a pout meant to give her a tougher demeanor, she was a cuter version of an abrasive person.

"Flippy," Flaky stuttered not, "I want you to go get Lifty out safe and sound."

"Yeah yeah just another minute. I want to see what happens when Pitch bites his face."

"I meant right now, there's no waiting. If you don't go get him . . . you can't go to my house for a week! Or maybe a month! I'm being serious; I really do mean it!"

He weighed the options. Having the chance to witness the thief's face bitten or scratched off to being next to ignored by Flaky for a month. That was an entire four weeks for crying out loud! The longest he'd been separated from his best friend had been five days. After that he'd started making tabs on her so he'd have the convenience of locating her anywhere at any part of the day!

"But Flaky-a month?" It was too dangerous to risk. Flippy swatted off a bee that had chosen a resting spot on his shoulder, already taking his keys out. "Can't promise that he won't have a few bites though."

"I-I can't believe that a-actually worked!" exclaimed Flaky as he opened the passenger's door.

That's when Pitch showered the soldier in all the bites he gifted Lifty with previously.

**xXx**

"Ah-watch it with that," Lifty hissed, recoiling as a cold mist was sprayed on his arm. The antiseptic burned as it ran its sanitizing course. "It doesn't feel as good as you might think."

"I'm s-sorry," apologized Flaky, "but I need to do something before it gets infected."

The incisions created from when the killer dog had decided he was a chew toy were fresh and had started to ooze before they had made it home. He had refused any medical treatment, finding the looks doctors gave him offensive, and winning the argument of where to go. Needles, head aching medications, and dying people surrounding him wasn't worth getting proper attention for his injuries.

Not to mention that he'd most likely need stitches. Thread being used to close the wound and a needle puncturing new holes in his skin was unnerving; avoiding it was best.

The bites hadn't been life threatening to begin with, numerous and covering the expanse of his body, but not life threatening. Afterwards, Flaky's "abrasive" side had been flushed down the drain, confidence transforming into fear as the raging animal disregarded every command Flippy gave

It took all the army man's strength to open the clamped mouth of the dog, and a good deal of pained shouts on Lifty's part, but it had been done.

"Put that thing in a fucking pound," Lifty had snarled out, flinching at the savage dog's bark of protest.

No amount of canned sorrow or apologies from an obviously pleased Flippy had appeased the thief. Nor did he give him any credit for helping the bleeding stop, which Flaky had thought of as rude even if he was the cause of the mishap.

"It's not gonna get infected," argued Lifty. "You're worrying more than me, and you didn't even get mauled by the beast."

"I'm sorry," Flaky repeated again, dabbing at the reddened liquid that gathered around the indentation, "but w-what if your skin turned black o-or fell off because it was in infected?" She smiled at his stare that said she was over exaggerating, adding in a small voice, "I'm j-just taking precautions?"

Flaky's worry was pointless, he hadn't been seriously injured—he judged seriously as he wouldn't have the ability to go about on his own—but she still treated his injuries as though they would be his downfall if left alone. If he could point it out to her, he'd say it was her mothering side coming into play. The natural instinct all females had when faced with treatable and untreatable wound. Of the countless times he had seen this side, this had to be one of the most tedious cleaning processes.

Inspection and her vexation wasn't the attention he wanted, quite opposite actually.

His friend, finding that she had done the best she could, wrapped a gauze around the calf and unraveled the pant leg. With the gash covered and the bloodied cotton balls and rags disposed of, the only evidence he'd been attacked was the crimson speckled shirt he donned. "T-there," she said, "how does that feel? If you had gone to a real doctor's then it w-would be wrapped better—"

"But I said no to that," reminded Lifty. "This will do just fine, thank you very much." Sounding sarcastic he hadn't meant the thanks, but Flaky flushed at hearing his gratitude—he took the time to say it. That meant something.

Gathering up the first aid kit and its bandages, she took them to the cabinet she'd found them at. She lingered by the shelves, hands trailing over the dustless surfaces, as the color rose. Faintly at first, but growing as she thought of how she'd have to wash the stains from his clothes.

Flaky turned her head sideways, stare fixated on the TV set as she mumbled out, "U-um Lifty?"

"Yeah?" He was picking at the bandages through his pants now.

"Can you—gah—can you m-maybe for a bit t-take—" He wouldn't have believed that her stuttering could have gotten worse, but it just had. "Um—can you just—j-just—"

"Cat got your tongue Flaky~? Spit it out, what do you want?"

"Y-you see—I need you to, e-ehe." The pale girl stumbled over words in her rush to get them out. "Can you t-take off your shirt?"

Had she really just asked that?! He would think she was secretly a pervert and she wouldn't be able to look him in the face anymore without feeling embarrassment! Why hadn't she just sweet talked it, inching it in, instead of popping the question like she had no shame?!

Lifty's stunned expression lasted only seconds, fleeting as a mischief met implication. Complimenting each other beautifully, it wasn't long before they joined to create the greatest thing that could come from a girl asking a guy to go shirtless: Dirty thoughts. If Petunia could only realize how filthy his mind was; she'd spend hours each day for years trying to rinse out the grime that contaminated his head. Wouldn't that be lovely.

"Ahh~? Really now? Any reason in particular?"

"I j-just need your shirt so I can c-clean it!" She had picked up his vocal change and the amusement held in his eyes towards her. "R-really!" Flaky's back turned, she hadn't seen him stand from the couch, favoring his right leg over his left, and advance on her. "B-because your shirt has b-blood and—!"

A sound that was a dog's yelp and human whine combined left the startled hostess. Gloved hands held onto the cabinet but offered no support to the heavier individual, leaving his full weight on her already straining form. Flaky feared her knees would betray and buckle under her, where she'd fall and hit her head on the cabinet while going down.

This was out of fun and laughs, Lifty wanting to get a rise out of her, more than the actual teasing he gave her at times. Seeing how she had been flustered to begin with, it was his duty to push her from her comfort zone even further. It didn't necessarily mean that he would touch her any more than she wanted, but at least cause her untrained body to work a little more. Even if it did mean it was only giving her a real physical challenge.

"L-Lifty get off!" Flaky had begun sinking and the top of her skull where his chin was placed was growing sore. "A-all I needed was your shirt! Not a-a hug! Lifty?!"

"Does this look or feel like I'm hugging you?" He brought a knuckle to thunk her forehead, grinning at her whiny whimper. "I'm just enjoying the body heat you give off~"

"But y-you're heavy a-and—"

"And you're wishing I was shirtless while doing this~"

"Lifty!"

**xXx**

The pink clad girl daintly sat, the couch springs squeaking lightly at her weight, and held her glass of tea in slender fingers. She heard the talking from the next room over, muffled through the walls but still distinguishable. Female and male, Flaky and Lifty. The pale girl was speaking in soft tones, likely to be changing his bandages, which held a contentment in it; Lifty's response was too quiet for her ears to pick up.

On an average day like this she'd be sitting at home and indulging in the cheesiness of romantic movies with a companion, it being her boyfriend or best friend. They'd laugh or weep depending on what genre it was and waste the day away with screening movie after movie. But she was here, patting down her poofed skirt and smoothing the wrinkles. She had a required check-in with the girl. The fact that a thief was residing in her dwelling wasn't settling in her mind quite nicely. Who was she to judge what actions Flaky took, still, it'd give her peace at night to know she was getting along just fine.

Giggles had dropped in unexpectedly, spooking both when she took initiative and allowed herself inside without prior warning. It was almost as heart jumping when she broke their "hug" using an impressive, barbaric war cry. Believing he was having his way with the vulnerable redhead, she'd taken it upon herself to be the trusted friend she was and attack him.

A threat of her tweezers being aimed at his eyes and a can of pepper spray in her hand, held as if it were a real weapon, was all she'd done before Flaky had put a stop to her nonsense.

Lifty was rushed from the room, as he was close to blowing a fuse at her wrongful attack. She hadn't seen head or tail of either for a nearing half hour. It was during this period that she dutifully brewed up tea for her and her friend, placing a soda on the couch as a precaution. If Lifty chose to join in their talk uninvited she couldn't pretend he was only a wisp of air.

In the other room, the one Lifty occupied, the red and green duo were settled on the bed. Flaky's tongue protruded in concentration as she again wrapped the bites. They weren't as deep as she thought they'd be at first glance, that was to her relief. He wouldn't need stitches as they would heal and close up if left alone, that was to his relief. All her focus on swiping alcohol over the bites, Flaky hadn't sensed his wondering look.

"How do you do it?" Lifty asked.

Flaky glanced up. "D-do what? This?" She referred to the bandages. "I-it's simple really. You just have to sterilize the o-open wound first then—"

"I'm not talking about that. I wanna know how you're so damn concerned about stuff that doesn't apply to you? Like you didn't have to worry over this, I could've done that myself."

"That's e-even simpler." She moved aside his leg and stood, leaving him hanging and eager for her to go on. "You're my friend and I'm glad to help. I w-wouldn't be happy if I saw you in pain, so that's why I help."

Short, quick, and to the point, he was befuddled as she gave no further explanation.

"Sorry for m-making you wait," Flaky shut the door to his room to just a crack least he wanted to come out. But seeing how he disdained guests, there was the chance he'd only come to steal her wallet then leave. "I needed to calm Lifty down, y-you kind of gave him a scare."

Giggles waved a dismissing hand, finding it humorous that she'd given the twin a so called scare. "It's okay, I just wanted to have a check-in with you. See how you're doing. And apparently, from what I saw when I came in, you're doing okay! If it weren't for the sexual harassment."

"S-sexual harassment? Oh! O-Oh! No! Giggles you just came in at the w-wrong time . . . and saw the wrong thing." Flaky rubbed her neck. "We weren't d-doing anything."

"It seemed inappropriate to me~" Giggles poked her blushing cheek. Call her bipolar, but she gained strange satisfaction when getting the redhead to blush over the twin. "Anyways, Petunia's been telling me to check on you, so I did! Won't she be amused when I tell her what I saw!"

"Oh no, d-don't! She'd n-never let off Lifty if that happened . . ."

"What if I told you a way we can get him off everyone's bad side?" Giggles wiggled her brow and snorted at Flaky's lost stare. "You know, make everyone figure out he isn't as bad as he seems?"

This was too good to be true. Giggles didn't like Lifty, so why try and help him. "H-how do you intend to do that? F-Flippy already tried that and it didn't turn out as p-peachy as we thought it would."

"With a little of my magic," she wiggled her fingers above their heads, "and a sprinkle of pizzazz, I think I have a way to make him appeal to everyone!"

"I don't think I know w-what you're getting at, I'm sorry." Flaky reeled back as Giggles burst in her face, eyes sparkling like diamonds.

"I'm saying that you leave everything to me and I'll get his reputation from a bust to a must! A few touch ups, lose that mysterious mask, a friendly hello to everyone, and a small party should do the trick!"

"A . . . party?" This had escalated quickly. Flaky twirled her finger in her hair, barely catching the squeak of the hallway floor. "But how would that help—"

"Do you like parties? Do you like attending them, seeing all your friends having a great time and feeling the atmosphere be bubbly? You like that, yes?"

Flaky wasn't a party going type of girl. The only party she'd invested herself in had been Flippy's, and it had started off okay, but she knew how that had ended. It had taught her to keep her distance from parties. They were death traps waiting to happen. But she couldn't argue that they weren't a blast, she just preferred keeping away from large gatherings such as that.

Giggles was her opposite on the subject though. She adored the planning and decorating, gaining her tranquility from the whole idea of it. The late teenager was a natural planner and organizer, but rarely got the chance to put her skills to the test. Having Lifty as an excuse fit in her plan brilliantly. He'd get good instead of bad things being said about him, she'd get feedback of how her decorations were gorgeous and how every friend wanted her as a planner for them.

They couldn't lose.

"I-I suppose," Flaky let loose the hair strand. "But why suddenly? L-last you talked about him, you sounded as if you would rather do nothing more but c-choke him . . ."

Lumpy hadn't let her plan the school dance this year. That was why. Suddenly saving any penny they could was vital and having Giggles exceed the budget wasn't how they'd gain that.

Of course she'd been devastated when hearing they weren't having the night in the stars theme she'd wanted and instead going for a cheaper black and white dance instead. She did what every other sensible person would do.

She went straight to the principal and complained.

It was either they could have her dance and lose the art class funding, or ignore her wailing and save the art program. The artistic students and the petition for what was more important against her, she swallowed down her bile and suffered through the crummy dance.

This was her chance to shine again, she could be on top again and show them all she knew her stuff! Giggles fawned over the thoughts of the party she'd plan and throw together in less than two days if that was the time limit. She'd just need extra hard workers who'd listen to every command she gave.

Coming out of her tangent, Giggles gave a small shrug of her shoulders. "I have my reasons. It would give me happiness and Lifty a good rep, isn't that all you need to know?"

"And if he doesn't w-want it? What are you going to do then?"

"Who wouldn't want a party?! Especially one thrown by yours truly," Giggles smiled, swiping her short hair back. "It would be bubbly and pink and—"

"Pink? But Lifty's a boy."

"Don't interrupt me Flaky! As I was saying, it'd be pink and all of our friends would be invited! Excluding Disco Bear, I wouldn't think he'd like having the pervert there either." Counting the number of friends that'd be on the list on her fingers, Flaky was left to wonder how Giggles could just barge in and five minutes later be in the middle of planning a party.

It wouldn't be that bad, her parties were always fun. She already knew there'd be upbeat music, party games, and a table full of snacks. What she didn't know was if Lifty would be okay with being displayed before a crowd. She'd ask him once Giggles left . . . but with how the pinkette was endlessly going on about what would be included, that wouldn't be for a long while.

Pushed up to the hallway wall, Lifty grew a look of repulsion at the word "party". Then again, parties were easy places to snag a few wallets from unsuspecting folks. If it worked in his favor, Flaky wouldn't notice his disappearance and see him enter the closet where all the coats were hung.

". . . Not even wallets are worth a fucking party," Lifty shuddered, dreading whatever day they picked for this event. "And in pink?"

**xXx**

**I dunno, I just needed something to make what I have planned out flow xD**

**So I was recently informed by Ratty4949 and Deathprincess821 what this whole Sonicfangurl speculation is exactly about. And frankly, I don't see what she did that was so wrong. So she gave an honest review about a story that does have grammatical errors, big deal. I'm just voicing my opinion and saying that there were people who might've overreacted, she was trying to help him. You guys are giving her a reputation she doesn't deserve, and I'm sorry that I judged her before I knew all the details. Go watch "Me and My Sis Review episode 2 part 1" for the full details. She didn't deserve the mean fics she got as a response, and neither did her sister. Thanks again to you two who thought it was important enough to tell me about it, I now know she isn't a bitch or anything crude.**


	15. Secrete Feelings

Giggles planned the festivity in less than two days, asking neither Flaky's nor Lifty's opinion on decorations, what would be catered, nor where it'd be hosted. She had taken the burden joyfully and said it was her "duty to ensure the party is the best of the year!" Only the morning before she had it scheduled—she hadn't informed them at all until it came to her as a passing thought—did she go over the blueprints of what would go down.

Giggles had walked into the redhead's house, ignoring the snoozing thief on the couch, and laid out her schedule on the dining table. She pointed to what Flaky assumed to be her backyard, signaling the spread tables and circles that symbolized each friend.

"Well, what do you think?" Giggles asked earnestly. "I already got Cuddles and Toothy to go pick up the tables, and Handy said he'd handle the chairs. Practically everyone is pitching in! Isn't that awesome?" She beamed at Flaky, who was in mid-bite of her bagel. Her chewing was slow as she contemplated all her friend had done. She swallowed and looked over the makeshift plan again, at a loss for words.

"Wow, G-Giggles," she sounded breathy, astonished by the effort her friend had put in. "I—this is j-just . . ."

"Nice, kind, sweet of me? Yeah, I know~! And I promise it'll look even better in person, on paper it looks like such a drab." Giggles rolled it up and held it in her hands, watching Flaky keenly enough to notice her glance to the sleeping male. Her forehead creased with worry lines that the pink hued girl soon rubbed out. "Why are you worrying? You weren't the girl who stayed up all hours of the night to finish this—" she smiled meekly at her guilty expression, "—so what's the problem?"

"How c-can you tell I'm worrying? B-because I'm not, I'm just thinking what would happen if the rest don't like Lifty?"

The fashionista sighed, joining her at staring at the slumbering twin. "You never know, but he's bound to have some good quirks in him, right? Like he hasn't done anything _too_ bad these past days, yes? And I haven't heard you complain about him messing your things up, or any disappearances of your silverware or jewelry." Her expression grew thoughtful. "And there haven't been many thefts ever since he began residing here, so that's something we all should be grateful for."

That was true.

"But what if t-they still don't trust him?" Flaky cautiously moved around the knife on her plate. "I know that Flippy isn't too happy a-about him being my friend, and Lammy hasn't tried to get to know him past the first layer. So how can I e-expect other people to like him?"

Shockingly, the dressy girl didn't have an answer. She adjusted her bow as seconds passed, turning to minutes. What did Flaky want to hear? That her worries were pointless and their friends would welcome the crook with open arms? If she did, she would be planting false seeds of hope in the paranoid teen. It could be the truth, but it just as well could be a lie.

Flaky spoke quietly, a wisp almost. "D-do you like him?"

Musing on the question, Giggles tapped her manicured nails on the table. Each click counted as one second, her fingers moving as if she were playing a piano. She felt torn between whether to tell the honest truth, which would be a definite no, or stretch it into a teensy lie. The former could only hurt her feelings, but the latter could raise her expectations. It was better to go with the choice that didn't make her seem like a terrible friend.

"That's a tough question." The perfect way to start a sugar coated letdown. "It really is, and you know, I think I might have to get back to you on that." One look at Flaky's hope flooding from her expression said she wouldn't be worming of the interrogation that easily. Giggles brushed her dress down and searched for an adequate reply. Finding none, she turned to the answer she hadn't wanted to use. "I can't say I do, Flaky."

"Then w-why would the others, who've only heard what goes around the street, like him? I-I don't think he's ready for this, m-maybe we should postpone the party and I'll see if I can t-tidy him up more." A hand on her forearm put a stop to her frantic panicking. She bite her tongue to keep back the waterfall of concerns that threatened to spill out. "Too much?"

Nodding in agreement, she stroked her arm soothingly and watched the panic gradually abate. "Yeah, you're not going all Mother Hen on me are you? You act as if we're going to come with bats and pummel him, calm down Flaky!"

She had gotten this far, maybe it would be effective to rip off the band aid now and tell her the truth of what her actions would lead to. "You're going to have to let him be on his own soon, he can't be using you as a crutch for the remainder of his life."

The words Flaky had been fearing to hear, and once she did, she shrunk. If she wasn't there for her friend, who would be? He couldn't live without her being right beside him—not that she had given him much of a chance to see how he'd handle being alone. If he was capable of figuring out what his life plan was, she wouldn't have found him shouting that day. He wouldn't have been alone and waiting for help to come along, he needed her to fall back on. She was his rock, metaphorically. And to think of him leaving, getting up off her couch and walking away, it was too troublesome.

It was her priority to shelter and teach him, and thinking of how he might stop being dependent on her . . . Unsettled, the timid female shook her head, hair waving in her face in messy strands. "N-no!" she protested, feeling as her face heated up. "H-he wouldn't just go away, Lifty needs me!"

A snore from the couch warned her that the subject of talk was still in the room.

"I-I'm just looking out for him," she said, tone hused. Giggles looked from her reddened cheeks, to the hands that cupped her knees fiercely, and to her pleading stare. Flaky wouldn't succumb and admit that what she said was true; one day he wouldn't depend on her any longer. After that he couldn't only expect to socialize with her, and this would be a training step to that.

"I know you're concerned, but really, be rational. This might be good for him, he'll get out of his comfort zone and meet new people. Who knows, without his brother around the others might actually not find as, hm, threatening."

"But, but." Flaky could only gaze upon the sleeping face that held none of the annoyance and roughness it did during the day. The lines in his forehead were smoothed out, his brows separated from their usual burrow. Though, his lips were still curved down, like he was scowling in his sleep, just not as serious. She couldn't let him be exhibited before jeering crowds. They would be rude, uncaring, hurtful. "I . . ."

**xXx**

"How about you take this pack of streamers and go see what you can do with it?"

Lifty juggled the packet Giggles had handed him between his hands. Opening the top as she turned away, he shook one of the six multicolored tissue paper rolls into his palm. He turned it in every which way, pinching an end in his fingers and dropping the actual roll. It unraveled and left a pointless paper that swayed in the breeze.

Blinking out of boredom, he dropped it and the packet and left to go sit at a table.

While he sat around, Flaky was busy at work. There were tables that needed to be set, lawn chairs that needed to be unfolded, lanterns to be hung, how had Giggles believed they'd finish in time? She and Lifty were the only two in charge of setting up every outdoor adornment. Petunia had kitchen duty, even if they would be ordering most if not all of the food, Cuddles and Toothy were the messenger boys who alerted their friends of the party, and Giggles was giving orders to Nutty, whose possession she had unintentionally left their supplies of desserts in.

The nervous girl had draped a white cloth over the second to last table before she actually saw that he was doing nothing. Leaving her duties, she went and took the seat across him. Pleased that he hadn't said anything against her sitting in his company, she took the brave and asked, "H-hey, are you feeling okay?"

"Yup, 'bout the same as when you asked me an hour ago," he said, the reply automatic.

"O-oh, sorry about that, b-but you just seem like you would rather be anywhere than here. I-if you're scared of what they might say, don't be, G-Giggles said they'll all be extra nice—even more than they always are."

Lifty saw that, while she spoke, she had fiddled with the end of the table cloth. Flaky really couldn't keep still while talking to anyone, but he did notice that she had gradually grew less fidgety and skittish around him. She almost seemed calm at times, before a stroke of paranoia swept through her, then she was back to her regular shaky self.

"Stop it," the twin interrupted what she'd been saying about how wholehearted her friends were. He took her hands away from the cloth and laid them on the table. They had briefly stopped trembling under his hold, Flaky, surprised by his actions, fixing her eyes on her hands even after he had pulled his back. "You really should get those fidgets checked out, it's too much of a distraction for other people."

Snapping back, she hid her hands at her sides. "I-I will."

"As for your little pals." Sickened by the mere thought of the crowd being identically cheery and dripping fake happiness, he grimaced. "They can say or do whatever they want. I'm not scared of anything they can say, it doesn't affect me. If they're still butthurt because I happened to take their crap, that's their problem."

"But can you at least t-try to . . . at least try to prove them w-wrong if they say anything?"

"Mm?"

The redhead shrugged slightly, her words mumbled. "Just show them that y-you aren't what they think. I-I know you're not." She moved her hand away to rest atop his, her movements hesitant should he choose to move away.

When he showed no signs of disapproval, she covered the appendage with both hands, licking her dry lips. "Y-you really are better than that, and you deserve to be treated l-like it. I can tell you're not t-the same as you were before. If y-you could just show them that you have, then I'm sure t-they'll see it too. You've changed Lifty."

The simplicity of the words in her last sentence sent a pang to his heart. It was like a vex that tightened each time his chest expanded for air. Branching out, it turned into a constricting bond that restrained his breaths and blocked the oxygen from reaching his lungs.

What was it? It was starting to hurt, like his ribs would crack under the invisible boa's hold and suffocate him. Had she noticed how long he'd been silent? Or the pain, inflicted by the crushing squeeze, that crossed his face? She was still staring at him zealously with those two eyes.

Had her eyes always been that big? A ruby red that, if you looked further enough, contained specks of brown and almost appeared hazel on the edges of the iris. Framed by thick black eyelashes and holding a warmth, they were captivating, beautiful even.

—did he just think of her as beautiful? No! It was her eyes, they were large and guarded no secretes, they must have caught him by enough surprise to make him think they were in the slightest way pretty. He had seen her eyes hundreds of times before, sometimes even closer than they were now, but right now, they were different. Shimmering, reflecting his frozen countenance, huge, large enough to steal any attention away from her other facial features, and truthful, she didn't have any lies to tell him.

And why was he still struck dumb? The blood that pounded in his head warned him to take a breath before he passed out.

"Er—" He would have smacked himself for looking like an oaf if she weren't there. Lifty nodded steadily. "Y-yeah, whatever you say Flaky. Well I'm feeling better, how about we finish this stuff and maybe they'll here here by—Fuck!"

Flaky squeaked and stood, looking over the table to where he was glaring at the sky from the ground. "W-woah! Lifty, are y-you hurt?!"

In his hurry to get up, he had forgotten that the chairs were on grass instead of a wood or tiled flooring. As he pushed out, the legs had gotten caught and stuck in the clumped grass, and with him rushing to leave the seat, he had put all his weight on the back support. He hadn't known he was tipping back until he hit the firm ground a second later.

"Shit that hurt," groaned Lifty. He pushed himself off the chair and stood, cleaning his pants of the grass blades. Her eyes scanning him for scratches or cuts, he turned to hide the embarrassment that clearly showed. "Let's just do this thing already, the sun's almost high and I don't wanna be sweating later on."

Flaky, though she felt the obvious change in the atmosphere, didn't say anything but, "O-okay."

**xXx**

"Wmere ymou mant the manterns?"

Giggles tore her stare away from where she'd been checking off items on a clipboard and to the man who'd spoken. It was Handy. . . with a hammer and nails in his mouth. The construction worker scowled at her staring, glower deepening as a nail fell from his lips.

"You've done so much work already," Giggles put the fallen object back in his chest pocket. "I can take it from here if you—"

"Jmust tell me wmere ymou mant them." Agitated that she was offering him a chance to sit out, he was that much more determined to complete hanging the paper balls. Giggles, aware of how hard headed the handyman could be, directed him to the house gutters. He grumbled and left to fetch his ladder and toolbox. How he'd lug both things was beyond Giggles, the girl returning to her check list.

"Should it be facing this way," Flaky asked herself, "or that way? Or maybe if I put it on a different table—"

"It looks fine, quit messing it up." Lifty winced, rectifying himself, "It's in the perfect place, you had it just fine the first time. Why don't you go work on another pot?"

Flaky took her hands from the flower pot that worked as a center piece, looking at it from another angle. "D-do you think so? It looks wrong to me, l-like it's too far to the right instead of in the middle."

"Because you're looking at it in the wrong place." He motioned her over to his spot, lightly touching her arm as he pointed out the pots actual place. "It's not too far right and not too far left. If you keep moving it around, it might be, but for now it's fine."

"If you say so." Trusting that it was only her eyes that were deceiving her, she moved on to the next table.

Walking past where Handy had somehow managed to bring his ladder to the patio's edge, Lifty stopped to speculate. The sandy haired man emptied his toolbox, carried it to the top rung of the ladder, and came back down to repeat the same process with the tools. He must have been pretty flexible to bend to where his face was inches from the floor, and unhygienic if he scoped every germ covered, unclean tool using his teeth. It was a shocker Petunia could be with him, but in a way, they might have balanced each other out.

Handy, seeing Lifty's ogling, grunted and put the screw driver he was carrying on a step. "Is there _something_ I can help you with? A reason why you're staring?"

"Nope." His nubs moved when he talked. "No reason." How did he tie the bandages each morning? "No reason at all." If he put seed fertilizer on his stubs, would they grow back by the next morning?

"Then stop looking at me," Handy snapped, going back to his work. Bristling, frustration growing when Lifty wouldn't look away, he bumped the screw driver with his nose when he went in to pick it up. The tool fell three feet to the ground, aggravating the worker to the brink of anger. "Dammit to hel—"

The curse was halted as Lifty moved forward, grabbing the dropped item, and offered it to the tanned man. "I think you dropped this?" Handy's uncertainty turned to sarcasm, the look that said no, it came from the sky, plastered to his face. Seeing how the armless male couldn't take it, Lifty considered if he should put it to his mouth to hold. But going with his better judgement, or what he thought could be his better judgement, he put the screw driver where it had originally been.

_"Thanks,"_ he sounded ungrateful, but that could be from the bitterness of not being able to do anything on his own. _"I've got it from here."_

"Damn, I was just trying to give it to you," Lifty murmured. He did a good deed for once and he got a sarcastic thank you. What the heck?

He moved to lean against the house wall, not daring to go inside least Petunia scream at him for tracking mud inside. Flaky was still moving, working, adjusting. Moving, working, adjusting. This went on for the next hour, Giggles giving him balloons to blow up after finding him doing nothing, in a repetitious pattern.

Lifty, feeling light headed, let go of the balloon he was working on and allowed it to go flying off. Flaky looked like she needed a well-deserved break, but she wouldn't stop trying to finish the preparations on her own. It was just like her to think that, he thought while rolling his eyes.

"Hey, you ready to sit down yet? It's getting hot and you're wearing a sweater, take a break from it Flaky. Leave the rest for later when you finally get something cold in you."

"I c-can't," Flaky whined, refusing the outstretched bottle of water he held to her. "It n-needs to be perfect or else . . . it just needs to be p-perfect!"

He put the bottle down after taking a quick sip of it. "You're gonna wear yourself out in the sun. And when you get heat stroke or a bad tan, don't say I didn't warn you."

Taking some of his advice, she wiped her brow and pulled out a chair. Touching the top of her head, she cringed at the burning feel her hair had from the hours of sun exposure. This was consuming more time than she had expected, it was lucky that they had gotten such an early start. If their friends had arrived and found them hurrying to finish, what impression would that give? She angled the first pot she had set down until it look right in her eyes, then assumed her actions of readying.

Flaky picked up the glass cup that Giggles had drank from earlier. "Okay Lifty, I-I'll go get something to drink, but then you're helping me with the rest!"

"No promises~" Lifty stood as well and waited for her to swerve around the tables.

Handy, still working on hammering the lanterns in, put down his hammer in favor of a nail. He hadn't seen the faint Flaky bumbling towards him as he worked the stick of iron in as best as he possibly could. But when the shake came and lurched him forward, he knew Flaky had bumped into the ladder. The nail that had been held between his teeth was immediately swallowed. Feeling the sharp tip scratch at his esophagus, Handy, in a sudden panic, hit the tool box from the top rung.

Lifty watched as the construction worker fell from the ladder to the ground, gagging, but that wasn't his main concern. What was his focus was the fearful squeal Flaky emitted as the tool box crashed to the ground.

_Crack!_

"Aaahhh!"

Lifty was on his feet in an instant, rushing to Flaky, who was staring wide eyed into her hand. The hand that had once held the glass cup, but now only held glass shards.

When the tool box had fallen, the shy female had been spooked enough to break the cup in her grip. She had screamed as the sensitive skin of her palm was punctured and, due from past events, horrified that close by a monster had been unleashed.

Her injured hand held protectively to her chest, she cried in fear and cowered as a man's hand gripped her wrist. The black glove and dribble of her blood that smeared on his fingers looked too familiar. She expected to look up and see the psychotic eyes under lime green hair, hear the rough voice grate her ears as he promised to kill her, and feel the blade of a knife plunged into her stomach.

"Fuck Flaky, are you kidding me?!"

But what she got wasn't a killer's voice. It was the angry yet solicitous voice of her guest, and they were blazed emerald eyes that met hers, not a wicked golden.

Lifty growled and took her hand, inspecting the cuts like she had inspected his days back. "You really had to break the damn glass? You're too accident prone, G-d you can't go one day without having some sort of mishap can you?"

Flaky sniffed. He wasn't flipping and holding her up by her hair at the sound of breaking glass or the sight of blood. He was telling her to be more careful, but he hadn't pulled out a knife to stab her with. So used to being around Flippy when things went wrong she had expected to be dead already, but she wasn't. Bleeding and in pain when he turned her hand, but she was breathing.

"I-I didn't m-mean to—"

"Stop, stop and shut up. You're really going to be the death of me one day." Pulling off his striped scarf and shaking his head, Lifty wrapped the article of clothing around her wounded hand. "There, so Petunia won't lose her head when she sees you got blood on Giggles' floor. Let's go tell her, and stop crying, it's only a few cuts."

Seeing that he wasn't being particularly empathetic, he took the time to look over her shining face and trembling lips. She was so small, coming across as helpless, and yet he was able to snap at her without guilt. Huffing, he collected the water from her eyes on his finger and flicked it away. "You little crybaby, you're not gonna bleed out. I wouldn't let you. Let's just get you some bandages and you'll be fine, 'kay?"

Flaky counted the dark green stripes on his scarf. "M-mm hm. But . . . I-I'm sorry about y-your scarf."

"What?" It clicked that it would have red stains on it now; Lifty hid his scowl. "It'll come out with water, don't be worrying when you're the one who's bleeding." He wrapped his arm around her shorter frame and turned her to the clear doors; both jumped when they saw Giggles watching intently, the start of a smile on her glossy lips.

"Do you just appear anytime you want?" Strangely, he felt violated with her having seen and heard and not making her presence known sooner.

"Kind of!"

Creepy. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to figure out_ your_ little secrete~!" She giggled, winking and taking Flaky by the other arm. His eye twitched; what was she talking about? "And I've known it since the first day~! Why don't you just admit it now?"

"Like I have a secrete, and if I did I wouldn't be telling you. You'd be the last girl on Earth that I'd share anything with."

As, from either side of her, the accusation of Lifty having a secrete went on, Flaky felt the strangest sensation on her neck. A prickle of uneasiness, that of which you received when catching the class creep staring at you from across the room.

"Do not."

"Do to~!"

"Not."

"To!"

"No."

"Yes!"

"Fuck off."

Looking behind her, Flaky gazed over the picket fence, whose white paint created a glare in the afternoon sun, past the house behind Giggles', and to the unkempt hedge across the street. It rose ten feet up and cast a shadow to its left, and in that shadow she could almost make out the shape of a person. But from the distant she wasn't sure if it was only her imagination or if they were real.

If they were, she would have felt her blood go cold. The way they stood made it seem as if they'd been standing there a while. And the spark of mischief in their narrowed eyes would have terrified her, but it could always be the sun casting its tricks. She looked at Lifty, who was in the ongoing dispute with Giggles, then back to the hedge.

Whoever they were, they were gone now, leaving nothing behind.

They had been watching her and Lifty, but why?

**xXx**

**I had fun writing this chapter Cx Probably because I actually had some obvious LiftyxFlaky scenes in here XD**

**. . . Did anyone notice that they left Handy to die and felt no remorse? XD**

**Oooh so who's that stranger? I think you all can guess :3 I'm gonna have so much fun writing the next chapter, and this story is almost done hellz yes! Only like seven more chaps, YAY! :D**

**Why must I bring up Boony and Crystal in every chapter now? xD**


	16. The Rectifying Process

It was when Giggles found they were running low on confetti that she sent her errand boy—she relished in the feeling of being regal and having the power over others, even if it were just one boy she could give such a title to—to fetch more. The boy had taken her money with the elation of a person who had won millions of dollars in the lottery, strenuous laugh growing faint as he rushed to complete his assigned task. The bolt of yellow and green, the sweet smell of candy trailing it, flew to the town's all-purpose drug store. It was the least expensive place to procure what was needed, and still have leftovers to buy a few suckers or chocolate bars.

The sugar crazed boy exited the store with his parcels tucked neatly under his arm. Happiness was written over his face as he licked a rainbow dyed lollipop, trained on reaching the stick so that he didn't see the imposing figure that rested against the store's wall.

Nutty hadn't taken notice of him, until it was his leg he tripped over. He cried, not for the new tear in his jeans or the battered packages as they fell in the road, but because his lollipop had flew out of his hand. Working eye searching the cement with no luck, he raised it, instantly seeing it in the clutches of the figure. "Hey you caught it!" he chirped happily at his candy's safe fall. "Yay! Thank you! I would've had to go back and get another and I don't have money anymore so thank yoouu for catching it!"

The figure pulled the treat away at his open hand, as if having no intent of returning it.

"Y-you're gonna give that back, right?" Nutty asked urgently, following the arm up to his face. Wheat colored lips were tugged downwards in a scowl, nose wrinkled in antipathy, and narrowed eyes saying he would do opposite of that. Even with the sun beating down on his back and frying him, the shiver couldn't be suppressed. It was Shifty, now Happy Tree Town's only scandalous crook

"You would like that now, wouldn't you?" Shifty said, waving the candy in his face like a hypnotizing watch. It was a tease, he snatched it back quicker than the addict could grab out. "Well you know what_ I_ would like?"

"What?!" Nutty tumbled backwards as the masked face closed in on his, the back of his hood being fisted and raised higher.

"Mm~ I'm sure that you've seen my little brother running around with a particular redhead?" He clarified at Nutty's confusion. "The one who looks exactly like me, following at the heels of Little Ms. Shyness, ring a bell?"

Nutty blinked slowly. "U-um, you're talking about Lifty, yeah? Because if you are, then I think I know who he is! Yeah, yeah, he looks just like you! Tall, and with green hair, and oh yeah a mask—!"

"I know how he looks like!" Shifty looked around the street, finding no one who could potentially stop him should he get . . . vicious. "You think I don't know what my own _twin_ looks like?"

"Maybe you forgot how he looked like! I was jogging your memory! You know, he could've grown a beard, maybe! Or, or! He dyed his hair and got new clothes and changed his number!—"

Shifty pinched his lips, rendering him silent, and rubbed his temples in frustration. "Your voice, it's like the pestering chatter of a squirrel. Just stay quiet for a minute, can you do that? If not, you can say goodbye to your lollipop~ would you like that, cavity?"

Nutty whined. The monster, threatening his candy, it was unspeakable! Only someone with a black heart would ever talk of keeping him from his beloved sweets, especially not while in his presence.

"Good, then don't be the chatter box you are while I'm talking."

Nutty was quiet, a bead of sweat on his brow as he restrained himself from trying to overtake the taller male to take his belonging.

"I bet he hasn't told anyone the real reason why he's leaning on Flaky so heavily. It's sad really, but he brought it upon himself." The twin spoke in melodrama, a smirk touching his lips when he saw he'd captivated Nutty's attention. The sugar freak would be one for a good story. He continued on with his theatrics, voice woeful, but silk smooth. "What was the story he told you? Hm?"

"Well he didn't really tell me a story, but from what Flaky said, he's staying with her for a bit!"

"But do you know why he's staying with her? Or are you as clueless as I thought you might be?"

Nutty stared blankly. After he had found her guest was in no way related to her, he had made a guess that he was possibly a distant family friend. Who happened to share the same features as the crafty town thieves. "Flaky didn't really tell me . . . but I heard that it had something to do with someone—you I think! Yeah, yeah! That you didn't like him anymore!"

So he didn't know the full story? This would be easier than he had thought then. A few switches here, a word mix up there, a boy born manipulative and a halfwit junkie, and he'd have a new story to tell. "Really now? So he didn't tell you that he was the one who ditched me? I guess I wouldn't tell the truth either, I'd want everybody pitying me for being the abandoned brother, but I doubt he's even told Flaky the full truth."

"Lifty ditch _you_?" gasped Nutty, functioning eye wide in anticipation for the rest of the truth.

This was too easy. Shifty withheld the laugh that wished to escape, coarse and like sandpaper, and dropped his sweater hood. "You seemed surprised. He made me look like the bad guy all this time, right? While in reality he hasn't told any of you the real truth for why he's being such a leech." Without another word, he flicked the lollipop to the floor, where it broke. Spiteful, he crushed the remaining bits of solid candy under his shoe, grating them into dust against the cement.

"He's been lying to you, anyone who's heard his story~ I know it's difficult to comprehend, what with your peanut sized brain and all, but you should accept that it's true~ Lifty's not who you think he is; he's not the victim here. But you continue to believe that, what a shame." Shifty waited for his words to sink in before he added suggestively, "Well . . . you know the truth now. You know something your friends don't, so what are you going to do~?"

Nutty slumped in sadness as his treat was destroyed, thinking he would lick up the candy powder when Shifty removed his foot. His thoughts were too occupied, now that he had two sides of the story and no clue who to believe, to think of the consequence of licking the cement: A bleeding tongue. "I know! I'm gonna go back to Giggles, ask her for more money, and buy a new lollipop!"

Turn that easy into a challenging; the green haired boy was thicker headed than expected. If he couldn't go to his friends and tell them the made up story, then this conversation would be pointless. He'd get as much of a response as he would have if talking to a rock. At least then it wouldn't talk stupidity. "I stand corrected, you are more of a dunce than I would've thought. How about I bring it down to dumb terms? You, yes you, go to your friends, run as fast as your sugar powered legs can carry you, and tell them all I just told you."

"Do I include the part where you tripped me!?"

"No! Just go and tell them the truth about Lifty, and be sure that Flaky is within earshot~"

"Where are you going?!" Nutty yelled as Shifty turned, leaving. The aura that radiated from him screamed mischief, but what lurked in his emerald gaze was unreadable. Whatever it was, he didn't want the addict to figure it.

"None of your business. Just tell Flaky, I'm sure she'll believe you by the end of the day~"

**xXx**

Flaky jumped at a rapping on the window, dropping the wrapper she'd been picking off the car floor at Petunia's request. It was Nutty. . . . She rolled down the window, hearing the impatient tapping of Petunia's nails on the steering wheel. "Nutty? W-what is it? Petunia, Giggles, and I were just about to go to the s-store right now to buy a few things, is there something you need?"

The boy was flushed red, panting like he'd just escaped the mouth of a fierce predator. He took a two minute breather, in which the three girls sent each other looks. What had gotten into the sugar junkie? There wasn't some sort of killer pursuing him, no sweet residue on his upper lip that said he was on a famous sugar high, and Giggles hadn't particularly told him to rush. The car's hum matched his breathing as it slowed. Soon he was a reasonable shade of pink and his breaths had quieted considerably. The three shared another look at his dazed face; Nutty seemed to have forgotten that they were still in the driveway because of him.

Petunia coughed. "If you're just going to stand there getting smudge marks on my car, move away so we can leave."

"WAIT!" The car stopped as he screamed, deafening Flaky and throwing his arms inside the automobile. "I have something super-duper important to tell you! Really!"

"If it's about candy," Giggles said from the back seat, "then we don't want to hear about it. And where are the bags of confetti I told you to buy? Don't tell me you forgot to buy them!" She should have known better than to think he would spend the money given on anything other than candy. If it would satisfy his own needs and get him what he craved, he would waste her hard earned cash.

"No! It has a candy part in it, but it's something that you would've never believed! You gotta listen!"

"No offense," said Petunia, shifting the car back into drive. "But I'm thinking back on the last thing you said was super important. You just wanted our Halloween candy and made us believe we had to offer it to the demon gods."

"Why don't you go help Lifty? Or if there's nothing to do, you can fetch Lammy and tell her to meet us at Pop's Bakery."

"You guys aren't listening!" Nutty stomped his foot. "It IS important! It has something to do with Lifty and you guys are brushing it off as nothing! He did something bad! Bad!"

Flaky put her elbow on the seat's arm rest. Nutty was one of the only people who hadn't said anything mean or downgrading when she introduced Lifty—or when he introduced himself to Lifty. He had accepted him without hesitation, his friendly, loud, cheerful personality making him new friends constantly. Even if Lifty had shown disgust towards him, he still hadn't put him down with words. And suddenly he was saying the twin was bad, something must have come up or happened.

"H-he's in the back. Nutty, we don't have time for this right now, can you tell us l-later? If we're late Pop might give our cake to someone else, and C-Cuddles already had it written on with frosting."

"But you won't know what he did if you don't listen!—"

"Alright," Petunia threw her arm over the driver's seat, watching for any cars passing on the street. "I've had enough of this, haven't you girls? You can continue with your antics later, we're busy Nutty."

Whatever dignity the addict held fled as he chased the speeding car, down the street and onto the next. "WAIT! NO YOU GOTTA LISTEN! I KNOW SOMETHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TOO!"

The shrieking echoed through the street, reaching the backyard where Lifty currently was flipping through a deck of cards, graciously given to him by Toothy. The freckled boy had assumed he'd find them missing later on anyways, so why not cut to the chase and hand them over? He was seated by himself, stacking them up in a pyramid.

Nutty was a screamer; he didn't pay mind to him anymore than he would a mewling cat.

To sum the day up in one word: Decent. He had had worse days, he had had better. The warm, affectionate feeling he'd felt earlier was subsiding, though what it was he didn't know. The want for an answer plagued him. It had been gushy and soft and almost tender, not to mention gross. It was sickening because he was supposed to be a tough man, and to be having girl feelings, it was repulsive.

The house of cards fell down, but it wasn't the slight shaking of his hand that did it. It was that Lifty wasn't looking while playing it, he was distracted by an all too familiar figure waving from beyond the fence.

"Not again." He went back to re-stacking the cards into a deck and sliding them into their box. Hadn't he seen the last of his brother, why did he have to keep pestering him? Shifty's snide grin was the sunshine of his day. If that day was the shittiest day any person had ever lived through, then it was eaten by a carnivarous bear, and regurgitated into a bucket made of lamb intestines.

"Mm, how's it going little brother? Still clinging to your new 'friend's' backs?"

"What do you even want, Shifty? Why don't you go get your own life and stop barging into mine." Lifty didn't have the intention of getting up, quite fine with the distance set between them.

"Ooh~ scornful today aren't we~? I can't believe you're still bitching over this." Shifty spoke smoothly, as if he thought he could convince his brother out of his grudge. "It was in the past, and I've forgiven you."

Forgiven him for what? As always, his twin was being a vain asshole.

"I'm not holding anything against you, so I'll give you one last chance~ come on bro, come home and we'll leave this little quarrel behind us. We'll go on robberies again like old times, all you gotta say is you were wrong~"

Wrong. Right. Because he was always blamed, always deemed as the one in fault, always passed the title of wrongness to. It was_ always_ like that. Why was it that his older twin never got told what he was doing was wrong, why did it always have to be the youngest? Shifty was a good commander at times, but it wouldn't hurt to take the blame when things didn't go as planned. But no, that wasn't how things worked, or used to work.

Lifty, you idiot! Lifty, you're such a screw up! Lifty, why was I damned to be brothers with someone who can't take one step without getting us caught?

All the time. All the _damn_ time. But this wasn't the case, he hadn't screwed up anything this time. It was all Shifty's fault. And if he wanted to mend what was broken, he better had been waiting for a cruel slap from reality. He wouldn't deal with being told everything was his fault by one who was as superior to him as the next guy. No, he'd rather be murdered in the most sadistic ways possible than hear that identical voice, his voice in a different perspective, tell him how he was useless. If only he could wipe that smugness from his voice and face, his animosity would be held at bay.

"Unless you don't want to come back home? Would you rather stay here with no friends? At least at home you'd have me to talk to~ here you only have the ever silent Flaky to converse with, and she doesn't understand your way of thinking like I do~"

No friends, but he did have friends now. Flaky for one, the loving redhead was the first friend he had since primary school, where the teacher forced everyone to befriend their classmates. But she wasn't all; his thoughts turned to the squeamish sugar addict. Sure they'd only spoken three times, in five minute periods, but the hyperactive teen had a quality that he used to gain everyone's friendship with. Then there was the pinkette, an annoying girl who got on his nerves as much as the jumping boy. She argued him on whatever he said, but she seemed to have good intentions at heart.

More or less.

She seemed to have good intentions at heart—when it came to Flaky being involved. Still, after they had bandaged her hand there had been a mutual agreement. Like they would stand each other, talk rarely, but acknowledge one another as an individual.

Were those considered to be friends? . . . Or even acquaintances?

"Are they here? Or did they leave you like I said they would?" Shifty went from his cant pose to climbing and hopping over the waist high fence. If they weren't there, this could be a stroll to the ice cream shop. His idiot brother hadn't seen his hands behind his back yet, abstracted by his contempt filled stare. His smile turned warm, too warm, at the decorated backyard and the cliché favors. Cute; people still used streamers and punch bowls. Only a "Happy Tree Friend"—as he referred to the irritatingly giddy residents of the town, the category including Giggles, Petunia, and the alike—would have such a predicted party.

"Do you think they'd be angry that I decided I would come, uninvited?"

Lifty put the cards in his pocket. They could be back at any time, Pop's Bakery was on Main Street only fifteen minutes away. They could have gotten the cake already, and his twin was continuing in making pointless small talk. If they came and saw the two interacting, that would stir up some suspicion. And he had barely earned a drop of Giggles' trust, but that drop would evaporate in seconds if she thought he might be double crossing.

"Yes, they would." He could hear the strain in his voice, hands clasped on the table underside. "I don't want you here either, so it's best you leave."

"Being civil now?~ what happened to cussing me out like our old arguments?" Shifty put his hand on the table, smirking at the sad excuse of a thief. "Didn't think Flaky would have rectified you this much, must have been a real burden on her~ don't you feel guilty knowing that you gave her more problems than she had before? Such a nuisance, she must think that, too."

He thought he hated Shifty before, but that was a lie. It was mere dislike, a strong loathing. Lifty hadn't known pure hate until that moment, when the comments from his brother that belittled him rampaged through his mind. Every stupid word that left his lying mouth, tainted with fake superiority, which ever kept him in his place. The place that Shifty set for him, put barely higher than a pack mule, some sort of slave he held no regards for. And that sniggering face that they shared since child birth, it was enough to gain his fisted hand. It didn't hesitate in waiting, in flashing out in full intents of socking the slyness from his brother.

It didn't intend to miss, however.

Shifty had moved to the left evasively as the fist sailed by the tip of his nose, inches from hitting him. Lifty's expression transformed into shocked irritation, teeth clenched as an uneasy peach pit grew in his stomach. Shifty wasted no time with a remark, his own hand shooting out and catching Lifty's unguarded neck. His fingers struck under his Adam's Apple in a well-targeted jab.

"Your reflexes have gotten slower," Shifty said, sounding disappointed at his twin's guttural gag. "Shame, being on your ass all day has proven to have had a negative effect on your speed."

Tears pricked at the younger's eyes as his face burned in embarrassment, hands gripping his sore throat. "What the hell," rasped Lifty. "I-I've always been faster—"

"_Have,_ as in, past tense. It suits you anyways. A wimp shouldn't be fast, they should be pathetic, weak~"

Lifty quietly snarled.

"So you're not gonna come back with me, are you? This is your final chance, I won't be asking anymore."

"With you?" A snort. "I think I would have taken you up on that offer if I had any thoughts of going back. Fuck off Shifty, I can actually have a life away from you now."

An icy glint and small smile from the older thief. "I was afraid you'd say that. So you really believe that by the time Flaky's back she'll want to keep you around?" He touched the punch bowl, moving the ladle and stirring the strawberry bits inside. "Because someone could come here and wreck everything. Nothing in this world lasts forever, so I don't see why you thought this relationship with her would be anywhere near stable. It was bound to perish at some time."

Oh G-d, there was that foreshadowing. Things had taken a turn for the worse, Shifty's calm tone had said it all. You knew he was either beyond angry, or planning something when he used his understanding voice. Lifty gulped, which hurt his throat. "What . . ."

"Everything could just blow away like a puff of smoke. And where would you be then?" He took out the long, shining object he'd hidden from his brother's eyes until that second. "Discarded, thrown out, abandoned~ it's too bad you didn't want to come home. You know there's always consequences for wrongful actions."

And there it was. His stomach dropped into his feet, he sat forward in his seat, and all thoughts were forgotten. What was this feeling? Worry? No, it was stronger. Fear, it was cold, solid, fear. Not for his own safety, but what he feared for was the future and present he had built up. Flaky, what would she say, what could she say? If he didn't do something, she might slip out of his fingers like water. Now he knew what Shifty had meant by destroyed, tossed into the fire to obliterate into dust.

For in his hands was a lightweight aluminum bat. How did he not notice it? He had been too preoccupied despising his brother's presence, he should have realized there was a reason for the crook to have his hands hidden. There wasn't time to be reprimanding himself for not being attentive, Shifty was staring at him mockingly and swaying the bat idly.

"Shifty," he said cautiously, "what are you doing?"

"You were there when Cuddles cut me, you saw how mad it made me get~ I'm still remembering his wailing when prissy Giggles met that truck." Softly, he chuckled. "Good times. When you and I plotted things together. But now you've moved on, and I really don't like that. There's no one to take the blame besides me, so you see why that's been causing me some distress?"

Lifty nodded, eyes trained on the weapon. "You're crazy. You're fucking crazy. That's what you are. A crazy, sociopath, mother fucker."

Shifty frowned. "That's not the right way to talk to your elder, dipshit."

"Holy crap dude, you're off your top today. What did you take this morning? A bottle of psycho pills?"

"I just wanted to see how my wittle bwother Wifty is doin', you act as if I'm committing a crime right now~"

He pushed out his chair and got up, watching for any movement that his mentally unstable brother could make. "When you're acting like you're ready to shoot everyone, then yes. If you just go right now I won't even tell Flaky you were here. We can go separate ways and—"

"Haven't you been listening? I need someone to help me in crime, I haven't even been able to rob a bank on my own since that takes two people." He tapped his own head lightly with the bat, rolling his eyes at his kin's stupidity.

"Then get a fucking dog, it'll be able to help you drag out the money." Lifty, paranoid now, could imagine the girls pulling into the driveway right then. "You're gonna hurt someone with that, G-d just leave."

"I just want to hurt you." It was above a whisper, but it confirmed Lifty's suspicions. His brother really had lost his mind. It must of had to do with the bonk he'd gotten on his head, the same hit that caused his old bruise, and triggered his inner insanity. He held his hands up. Would Shifty actually beat him to death with the bat? What a way to go.

"Not physically, fucktard, how would you be worth anything to me then? Nah, I was thinking something that would wreck what you've been holding onto and putting your hopes in this past month." He turned back to the punch bowl, spitting in it for good measures. "How does this sound, 'L-Lifty! What happened here?! W-why is everything destroyed?!', does it give you a hint?~"

Though a poor imitation, he was obviously mimicking Flaky. Destroyed—no, he wouldn't.

He wouldn't, but yes, he would. Lifty didn't answer, not that he could have, his vocal chords didn't seem to be responding to his brain at that instant, before he saw the shine of silver as it was raised. He quietly recorded the seconds that ticked by as the bat made its descend, bidding the life he had come to know as he counted two. Then, like that, time sped up into a flash. A micro-second passed and the aluminum met the glass bowl. It cracked, then the flood of pink strawberry lemonade spilled onto the white cloth.

He was petrified, thoughts that said to stop him racing from his mind. The galloons of lemonade were wasted, staining the stark cover and slipping over to drip in the grass.

"Heh." Shifty shook the drops of drink off. "'Lifty, w-what did you do that f-for?! Y-you sociopath!' If only I could feel your devastation when she tells you that, your expression should be satisfying enough though~" Next were the lanterns, which went flying, battered, as the bat swung to pull them from their nails. The thin paper ripped, gaping holes facing the sky as they bounced to a stop on the grass. Some rolled, some didn't, but Shifty made good measures to stomp on each ones he passed.

Lifty watched how he would with an engaging TV show. The series unrolled and unfolded before him, and he didn't have the power to stop it. His limbs were not complying with what his brain was saying, the blood in them paralyzed and his nerves unresponsive. But as the eldest swiped the weapon across the table that held the punch, knocking down the cups, plates, and revolving stands that held cupcakes, he found his voice.

"Hey! W-what the hell are you doing!? Stop!"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" The potted plant Flaky had worked so hard to align was sent to the ground. "You went out of line, brother, and there needed to be someone who'd correct that."

Lifty pushed away from the table and ran to block his sibling from doing any more harm than was done. He soon learned that, though being the stronger of the two, it would be difficult to wretch it from Shifty's hands. "Let go!" he growled. "Why are you doing this!?"

"Because!" Shifty heaved, reluctant to give up. "That stupid contraption ruined everything I wanted! So why should you get what you want?! It wouldn't be fair!"

"That was your fucking fault! I don't know why you're taking it out on me! Just get out!"

Shifty stopped pulling, if only for a moment. "We're connected, you're my brother, so anything that happens to me should happen to you."

"What?" Lifty stared dumbly. In some sort of lighting, his statement would be considered rational. But in this lighting, it was revengeful and half baked.

He had an advantage now, one that would be the downfall of Lifty's high tower of change. "You fucking idiot, you deserve what I went through." Shifty's foot collided with the spot that brought his younger to his knees.

Lifty's face contorted in pain, his hold loosening as he fell on his side. Not again. It was Lammy all over . . . but this time the situation was worse, and his weakness would allow Shifty to continue his reign of destruction. He could only lay with his cheek pressed on the warm grass, breathing shallow and an ache in his stomach, as Shifty was left to end what he started. Each crash of tables being overturned, the crunching as the remaining lanterns were crushed, and the work invested by him and the redhead being demolished, was a ton that seemed to be added to his fear.

He couldn't do anything. He knew why. It was because Shifty was in charge, he always had been. His word was law and anything he wanted to happen would happen, no matter what. He would crawl to the ends of the Earth on his belly, ignoring the rocks that scraped and cut his skin, just to have his revenge. It didn't matter if you tried to run and hide, hoping you wouldn't be hit by a van or accidentally ingest meat with mashed glass shards in it, he would hold the grudge until you were delivered with payback. That was the way Shifty was satisfied, even if the one receiving his vengeance was his own family.

The noises quieted until it was absolutely still, but Lifty didn't stir, frightened by what he would be faced with if he looked. The destroyer said nothing, that smirk probably glued onto him, as he walked by the downed male. He did, however, give a kick to his posterior, chuckle, and throw the bat down. It rolled and touched his back, the chinking of the fence and running feet signifying Shifty had left.

Left disaster behind.

The young thief didn't budge for minutes, though the pain had left him, only to be replaced with a numb fear. How could he think that this would be standing by nightfall, he'd get a chance to score free cake, and figure out what Flaky had caused in his chest. It was unreasonable, irrational, his luck.

The slamming of a car door. No, they couldn't be back. Was it possible that this would all fade away if he willed it to? They couldn't see that everything was . . . broken. It was too early for him to lose their trust completely; to lose Flaky. She would understand though, she never was angry at him, she wouldn't think any less of him.

Lifty stood up, staring at the bat that lay besides his feet and then at the backyard gate.

. . . It opened.

And a gasp from Flaky, who stared wide eyed at the wreckage that had once been their party. Then at the guilty looking thief who stood amidst it.

"L-Lifty?"

**xXx**

**BAM cliffhanger! This was going to be combined with the next chapter, buttt I thought I'd let you guys imagine what her reaction will be C:**

**I happen to like Sociopath!Shifty, he was quite interesting to write.**

**Members of U.C.F.F (United Cousins/Friends of Fanfiction):**

**Boony- Warrior that takes shape of a wolf in battle.**

**Ratty- Flying, nocturnal spy (how dare you let the milk spoil! D:).**

**Crystal- ._. I actually don't know. Oh yeah, my wife!**

**Me- Husband, hobo, and butterfly (or so my spirit animal test says).**

**FLAKY WHAT WILL YOU DO!? D:**


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